Published: Thursday, 9th October, 2008 16:00
`He's our royal Jem.'
By Anthony Smith
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Midfield Jem: Jem Karacan has grasped his opportunity in the Reading first-team.
KEVIN Dillon has praised Jem Karacan for seizing his chance in the Reading team.
Royals were facing a central midfield crisis with James Harper, Marek Matejovsky, Brynjar Gunnarsson and Kalifa Cisse all suffering injuries in the early part of the season.
That opened the door for 19-year-old Karacan and the youngster, who once turned down both Manchester United and Galatasaray, has shot to prominence with a string of mature performances.
Unfortunately, he suffered a knee injury in last weekend’s win against Burnley which will force him to miss two upcoming qualifiers for Turkey u21s against Belarus.
Nevertheless, coach Dillon has been hugely impressed with the rapid development of Karacan.
“The turning point for Jem was going on loan to Bournemouth last season. He did really well and people were talking about him. Now he’s in the Turkey under-21 squad and he’s such an infectious lad.
“He was fortunate in a way that Marek and Bryn were both injured and we were wondering who to play in midfield. Jem was the next selection and it was the same with Alex Pearce at centre-back.
“In hindsight, if we were still in the Premier League it would be difficult for them to get in. But because of how well they have done in the Championship they could certainly play in the Premier League now.”
Karacan has made seven starts this season and his lung-bursting displays have been a major feature in putting together a run of five unbeaten games, including four victories.
As a result, a fit-again Harper, who started the season as captain, has been unable to force his way back into Steve Coppell’s senior side with Karacan and Gunnarsson in current possession of the shirts.
Dillon explained: “If anyone deserves to play it is Harps but the manager has always been consistent with selection.
“If a team wins it normally stays the same and he couldn’t even get Harps on the bench against Burnley because of Cisse’s contribution at Wolves where he scored. On top of that he can also play centre-half so it’s going to be difficult for Harps.
“But to Harper’s credit, he’s different class. He comes in and works harder than ever and encourages people in training. Saying that, I don’t know how long it will last because we all know what he is like.
“But he won’t be disrespectful. Steve is consistent and Harps was struggling with a few knocks and it was probably an ideal time to take him out of the team.”
Karacan will spend the next week recovering at Reading in the hope of being fit for the trip to Preston.
And he said: “It’s nice being involved but there are players coming back from injury so I’ve got to keep doing well.
“But the most important thing every time are three points for the team. We’ve got to keep trying to move up the table. We’re third and we want to be top.
“I’m loving every minute of it. If I keep doing my bit for the team maybe the gaffer will keep me in.”
Meanwhile, Dillon believes the rise of Karacan and fellow Academy graduates James Henry, Julian Kelly and Pearce shows the club’s youth set-up is working.
Earlier, there had been criticism of the lack of first-team players it produced but ex-youth team coach Dillon argued: “They’ve come in and it’s been great for the Academy because this has been a long time coming.
“It’s great to see them come through and you’ve got to give Eamonn Dolan (Academy director) credit for that. “He’s really developing players now and they’re progressing through Nigel Gibbs who does a fantastic job with the kids in the reserves.
“He’s that intermediate between the first team and the youth team and it’s working really well at the moment.”
He added: “It works in cycles. When I did the kids we had four of five come through in the same age group.
“We had Darius Henderson, Nathan Tyson and Jamie Ashdown while Adam Lockwood and Chris Smith have all gone on to earn money in the game.
“If they don’t make it at Reading and they can still earn a living from football, then I think we’ve done our job.”
READING’S trip to Birmingham City on Saturday, December 20 has been changed to a 12.45pm kick-off and will be shown live on Sky Sports.
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