SLOVENIA is the likely destination for Reading FC's pre-season tour this summer, writes Anthony Smith.

Brian McDermott is a big fan of the central European country and took Reading there on two pre-season trips in 2011 and 2012 during his previous spell in charge.

The team hope to base themselves at the The Grand Hotel Primus in the ancient city Ptuj.

McDermott is now lining up a series of friendly matches against clubs in the region, and he hopes low travelling and living costs will tempt Reading fans to join them on tour.

Royals' boss confirmed: “We've got plans to go back to go back to Slovenia as we've been there before.

“It's something that's on the agenda.

“The climate and conditions are good and I know the hotel and training ground and the area itself.

“If fans want to travel out there it's not overly expensive.”

McDermott also stressed: “It's so important to get your pre-season right.

“Some players like the younger ones will come back earlier than the others.

“We've also got the European Championships to work into the equation, but we are making plans.”

The summer is likely to be a hectic one for McDermott with six loan players set to depart and several others out of contract.

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe has also been a regular visitor to Madejski Stadium in recent weeks following links with Reading trio Oliver Norwood, Jake Cooper and on-loan Ola John.

But McDermott is determined to rebuild his squad in the close-season and mount a serious promotion challenge in the 2016/17 Championship campaign.

“I think we have to build something,” he declared. “There are a lot of players out of contract, we have a lot of loan players, so we have to build a squad and a team that can play in the top end of the division like we have in the past.

“We're facing a big summer ahead for the whole club. We want it to be successful.

“We'll bring all our own loan players back and we'll try to get the right balance to our squad.

“Our pre-season has to be right and we're organising that as we speak.

“We need that camaraderie around the place so everyone is going in the same direction.”

Reading, who have lost their last four league games, travel to Loftus Road to take on QPR this Saturday (3pm ko).

Chris Gunter returns from injury, though Hal Robson-Kanu and Jordan Obita remain sidelined.