5 reasons why Gylfi Sigurdsson's departure could be a good thing

It was inevitable. The only surprise might be the timing and the destination, but the Royal's gifted Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson is off to Hofenheim to play in the Bundesliga. Cue mass hysteria from a sizable portion of fans, but once again it's time for a reality check for many Loyal Royals. Here's my 5 reasons why this isn't the end of the world for Reading FC:

Back to 4-4-2
Churchy, Long and Hunt don't exactly excel in the lone front man role and we've lost Rasiak, so with Gylfi gone it's an ideal opportunity to revert to the system that took us to glory a few years back under Sir Steven of Coppellshire.

Dump the debt

No football club of our size should be operating with debt, it's not a good foundation for long-term success. Those who think this is all about 'lining Madejski's coffers' I think are being naive to say the least. Our ambition should be to prosper as a club on a firm financial footing.

Bring on the kids

A youth policy only works if you give those youngsters you are developing a chance. Gylfi got his chance and grasped it, what's to say that others won't do the same? Why should we 'reinvest' in older 'established' players who are often overvalued, overpaid and don't deliver the goods?

One-man team

I'm not sure it was ideal the way Gylfi had been portrayed in some corners as the saviour of Reading FC. We need more than one star in the team - and we've got a few players who fit that bill on their day. Of course he'll be missed, but the team can unite and move forward with purpose.

Now we can move on

Such drawn out transfer stories are never going to be a good thing for the player, team and club. Nobody wanted a Stephen Hunt saga. As sad as it is to see the departure of a fine young player, tomorrow it will be in the past and it will be time to focus on the next game.

...and how about some celebration for the fact that the club can nurture and develop talent in this way? Gylfi had not played any 1st team football before the start of last season - now he's valued at £6m. Who is to say we can not continue to do this?

Rodgers to raid Hornets for Smith?

It wouldn't be a huge surprise if the new gaffer made a raid for Watford's prize assets, especially as the Vicarage Road outfit are strapped for cash. Likely target is 29 year old Tommy Smith who was instrumental in the Hornet's turnaround last season with 17 goals. He seems to have been around for ages, and I recall he was always an out and out striker, but under Rodgers he has been very effective as a winger, an area we've had problems with recently! Slovak born Hungarian Tamas Priskin catches the eye too, a pacy striker with a deadly finish. Watford fans can sleep easy for a while at least as Reading FC have made it clear that we need to sell to make funds available for any future purchases. That will surely be remedied soon with the predicted sale of Stephen Hunt and Kevin Doyle (a winger and a striker...see where this is going?). Andre Bikey is being watched by Marseilles too, so it seems inevitable that significant changes are imminent.

Why we must sell Doyle and move on

The new Brendan Rodgers sign on Reading FC's manager's door is only just up and already we've had the first transfer rumour of the close season. We all know what to expect in the next couple of months: rumour, counter-rumour and absurd fantasies are the order of the day. With a new manager in position it's going to provide even more fertile ground for the gossip-mongers, and it'll be our 'big names' that become the subject of such idle speculation. Kevin Doyle is without doubt our prize asset, despite his erratic form last season he's a proven goal scorer at the top level and is an established International for the Republic of Ireland. In the past he's attracted interest from Aston Villa but this week it's Everton who might be interested. A £7m deal that involves his tousle-haired compatriot Stephen Hunt has been mooted, and even if the source is the Daily Star let's pause for a while to contemplate what such a move would mean for the football club. Firstly, if such a deal was in the offing it begs the question, 'who is valued at what in this'? Even die-hard fans of the terrier-winger would concede that Hunty Senior was pretty dreadful for at least 75% of last season, so surely his stock has fallen dramatically since the Toffees were rumoured to be interested last August. At one point he was supposedly worth around £3-4m, yep, we'd bite off an arm and more for that right now. A package deal that involved taking Doyler makes a lot of sense to any would-be suitor, with his (Doyle's) worth surely still around the £5m mark. Let's be honest here the chances are that he wants to leave and ply his trade at the highest level, and who can blame him for that? He signed a contract extension in January but it was no secret that he wanted to get back into the Premier League. We wouldn't want to lose him, but we have to face hard facts here, and BR already has. With at least one more season in the Championship we are prey to top flight clubs looking to bolster there squads with good value signings. Everton won't be banking on Doyle or Hunt, but they'd be tidy additions to a squad that will need bolstering should they wish to improve on their excellent 6th place finish last term. With Europa League thrown into that equation it makes even more sense; they don't have stacks of wonga to chuck around, so Championship quality represents limited risk and high returns should it work out. David Moyles certainly knows how to get the very best from limited resources.

If you believe that Brendan Rodgers is the man to get the most out of our youngsters and make a few shrewd signings of his own, then losing our star striker doesn't appear to be such a disaster. What's more Doyle has been hit and miss for sure in the last 18 months, and his style of play has been a little predictable. The pace isn't quite as explosive as it was, and to go most of this year without scoring tells its own tale, despite the inadequacies of the rest of the team. We need to bow to the inevitable and trust in Brendan to use the money from any sales wisely. Simon Church could be on the verge of breaking through, but the loss of Doyle would leave options up front a little limited. Shane Long, Noel Hunt & Kevin Mooney would, along with Church, be the sum total of our striking options throughout the squad. I can't believe we would offload Doyle without having a replacement lined up. Whatever happens it'll be an interesting summer...

Rodgers odds on to land Royals post

It seems increasingly likely that current Watford boss Brendan Rodgers will be appointed the new Reading manager some time in the near future. Nicky Hammond is showing due care and diligence in carefully sifting through the applications and with the Hornets keen to retain the services of Rodgers nothing is certain, however it all points to the Irish man taking charge for the new season. Other names in the frame are PNE boss Alan Irvine,  and Darren Ferguson who has guided Peterborough into the Championship. Strangely enough I saw somewhere that bookies Victor Chandler had installed Alan Pardew as second favourite at 9/4. Surely some mistake?! Who do you think would be best for us and why?...

'Arry in the Hunt for, erm, Shunt?

The ongoing saga that is Stephen Hunt's impending move to any old Premier League outfit in the bottom half of the table continues. Now rumours abound that Spurs could launch a surprise £5m deadline day bid for the wantaway (allegedly) winger (allegedly!!). Frankly if Redknapp is offering that sort of money for the lad I will get my car keys and head for 'The Lane'. If it happens will we snap up Jamal Campbell-Ryce from Barnsley to fill the, erm, 'void'? Let's hope so. The most likely event is that nothing will happen at all, in which case Hunt will probably go on to have a blinding spell similar to the one he had after the last move in the summer fell through, can't fault him in that respect so either way it could turn out good for us.

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.

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.

Stoch in a moment?

Interesting rumour circulating (which seems to have originated on HNA) that we may be on the verge of an sealing a loan deal for talented Chelsea youngster Miroslav Stoch. The Slovakian has been turning heads already in pre-season and if it actually comes to anything it sounds exciting. It'd be nice to sign anyone at this stage frankly, can't help feeling that we just need a couple of new faces to freshen things up a bit.

Roy's keen on Kev?

Is Kevin Doyle the next player on his way out this week? The Daily Mail think Roy is, um, keen on the Irish International, but hasn't Keane been linked with almost everyone, almost all of the time? Also, my mother told me never to believe anything written in the Daily Mail, ever.

Losing The Doyler would be a blow as it would leave us looking a bit limited up front, for all his problems last season he's been there and done it in the Championship and I'd like to think he can regain his form and do it again for us.

He's Villa...he knows he is, he's Shorey is...

The summer's third longest transfer saga seems to be drawing to a close as almost everybody is reporting that Nicky Shorey is 'having a medical' at Villa Park. The fee is rumoured to be around £3.5m. So it's entirely possible that Hunt Senior will be playing left back at the City Ground on Sunday. Oh good.

Shorey to leave...finally?

The ongoing saga concerning Nicky Shorey's future at the club seems to be coming to a conclusion finally. It seemed certain at one stage earlier in the year that he'd be bound for West Ham, but more recently it's been Pompey who have shown the most interest, and now it seems to be a two-horse race between 'Arry's lot and Villa.

Let's be honest, he was poor last season and looked anything but an England left-back (actually, maybe he fitted right in!) and he doesn't want to play for us so we just need to get the deal done, for at least £4.5m.

In fairness to him, Nicky Shorey in his prime was one of the most solid dependable players who has ever worn the hoops. It won't be easy to fill his boots, but at least we should have the cash to get a decent replacement and let's hope that happens soon after his departure.