Royals chief hints at more loan stars

Anthony Smith • Published 3 Sep 2010 10:00 0 Comments

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READING have signed two players this week with another set to follow - and boss Brian McDermott may not be finished there.

Royals boss, right, confirmed he remains in the hunt for bargains now that Premier League clubs have finalised their 25-man squads.

That will mean top-flight clubs could be willing to loan out players frozen out of their first-team. And McDermott already has his eye on a few targets, with cash available following Gylfi Sigurdsson’s staggering £7 million move to Bundesliga outfit Hoffenheim.

Wolves’ winger Michael Kightly could be a possibility, but any deal would have to wait as the 24-year-old is unlikely to be fit for several weeks after a long injury lay-off.

“We’re still in the frame if something comes our way, we can do it now because of Gylfi,” McDermott revealed. “We’re watching closely to see what happens.”

This week Royals raided Carlisle United to sign Ian Harte for around £150,000 and they also enticed Blackburn Rovers’ Zurab Khizanishvili back to the Madejski Stadium on loan.

Former Aston Villa star Lee Hendrie is another poised to join if his trial goes well as expected.

However, McDermott also revealed an attempt to sign a striker failed this week, amid rumours of interest in Leicester’s Matty Fryatt and former Royals player Simon Cox, who is struggling for games at West Bromwich Albion.

But the Chronicle understands Peterborough United hotshot Craig Mackail-Smith was the forward McDermott really wanted.

McDermott tried to sign the 26-year-old on loan last season, but Posh turned down the request.

He confirmed: “We did make an offer for somebody else. We were close but we couldn’t do it and we missed out. I can’t say who but we know who is available and won’t bring in a player in haste.

“Initially you think ‘great’ but then you realise they’re no better or even as good as what you’ve got, and I don’t care what their name is.”

And he insisted: “We know the market. We have three international strikers in Shane Long, Noel Hunt and Simon Church and there’s Hal Robson-Kanu who has played for Wales. We’ve got Nicholas Bignall and Michael Antonio to play up front too.”

Meanwhile, McDermott insisted Sigurdsson was the only player they received a firm offer for, despite fears Adam Federici, Jobi McAnuff and Jimmy Kebe may also leave.

“We never got a phonecall or offer,” he stated. “At that point when Gylfi’s deal was activated we would have turned it down anyway because we didn’t need it. That’s got to be good news for Reading.”

LONG-TERM injury victims Chris Armstrong and Ivar Ingimarsson could give Reading a massive injury boost next week.

Boss Brian McDermott is trying to sort out a friendly fixture at the club’s Hogwood Park training ground - and both of them could play.

Reading skipper Ingimarsson, 33, has been sidelined since March when he underwent an operation on his hamstring. And Armstrong has not played a game since the 5-1 Carling Cup victory against Burton Albion in August 2009.

There were fears Armstrong, 28, may be forced to retire having already battled back from a career-threatening knee injury while playing for Sheffield United.

But McDermott said: “No-one’s retiring as far as I’m concerned and Chris could play in a friendly next week.”

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