Doyle drops exit hints

Comments from Kevin Doyle strongly suggest he could be on his way before the transfer window closes, with Villa and Sunderland still the main contenders for his signature. This seems entirely plausible after the signing of Doyle's compatriot Dave Mooney earlier in the week. Apparently he (Doyle) expects 'something to happen in August'...so do we Kev, how about a goal, or even something resembling a decent performance!? In light of his, let's be honest, wretched form over the last 12 months a fee of around £7m would be too good to turn down. If he is on his way then we can certainly reflect that we got two excellent seasons from him that probably exceeded our expectations. Don't expect another signing though, we'll probably use the money to do 'remedial work' on the stadium...

Royals do a Mooney

Reading have raided Cork City once more and landed Dave Mooney, a 23 year old striker who has been on target 15 times in the Irish league this season. Mooney's addition means we've certainly got options up front now, and with Lita and Doyle looking distinctly average thus far it can only add pressure on them to perform. Coppell may also be close to signing Chris Armstrong from Sheffield United who doesn't seem to be part of Kevin Blackwell's plans at Bramall Lane. He'd be a direct replacement for Nicky Shorey, although this rumour has been on and off for some time now. The cost for Armstrong could be around the £500k mark, Mooney's fee is undisclosed but thought to be near to £200k.

The Chairman speaks...

If you happened to hear John Madejski on the radio before the game on Saturday you would not have been surprised to hear him repeating his favourite mantra, which goes something like this: player's wages are obscene, we don't have as much money as you might think even though the club is run on a good business model, we won't spend heaps of cash on players, and so on. Nothing new there you might have thought, but even after the trousering of some £8m odd in cash from the sale of Kitson and Shorey one could be forgiven for thinking that we might delve into the piggy bank and splash out on a couple of players. Well, it appears that this unlikely to happen, and let's face it this isn't really a surprise. It's admirable that the club has used it's scouting system well to seek out emerging talent to great effect, most notably with the signings of Kevin Doyle, Dave Kitson, Shane Long et al. That said with a windfall of cash and Premier League parachute payments you can't help feeling we should be looking to be bolder in the transfer market and look to proven Championship players rather than speculative loan deals or players from League Two. 

Who really knows what's going on behind the scenes, but it was Steve Coppell who said he wanted to be 'the predator' with regards to transfers, but has he got the backing of the chairman, and how far does that backing go? The chairman has made no secret of his desire to sell the club to a super-rich benefactor, but until that person comes along might it not make sense to invest in players to ensure we can get back into the Premier League and become a desirable club to actually buy? Let's hope so.

Venezuelan youngster trains with the Royals.

Reading are looking at Venezuelan starlet Alejandro Valldeperas. The 17-year-old midfielder, who currently plays for Centro Italo in Caracas, has been recommended to The Royals and he's now training with our youth squad. He possesses a Spanish passport so he can move here without a work permit and his agent is hopeful a deal can be struck. 

Arsenal youngster set for loan?

Rumours abound that we're on the verge of signing promising young Arsenal left back Kieron Gibbs on a season-long loan from the Emirates. Gibbs has already impressed on loan at Norwich and Arsene Wenger is keen to get him some more first team experience. Sounds like a good deal as there doesn't seem to be an awful lot of good left backs around waiting to be signed up, and as solid as Hunt Sr. has been filling in there following Shorey's departure it's not ideal playing people out of position. Watch this space.