McD: Gylfi sale good for Reading

Anthony Smith • Published 3 Sep 2010 15:30

BRIAN McDermott believes Reading’s squad will be stronger without Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Royals’ boss argues the club-record £7 million sale of the club’s star player to Bundesliga side Hoffenheim has brought in much-needed cash to strengthen elsewhere.

The money raised has allowed McDermott to re-sign Blackburn Rovers defender Zurab Khizanishvili on loan for the season and land Ian Harte from Carlisle United for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £150,000.

Ex-Aston Villa star Lee Hendrie is also expected to sign imminently and McDermott confirmed there could be more loan deals to follow for Premier League players left out of their club’s 25-man squad.

McDermott explained: “All I did before was talk about things we couldn’t do. Now we can and there’s a reason for that, Gylfi Sigurdsson.

“He’s given me this opportunity to bring in players, we didn’t have that before.

“I wanted to do something earlier but I couldn’t. So Gylfi has allowed that to happen and we’ve got to be extremely grateful.

“I hope our fans will see it as a positive. The club is now in a far better position that it was this time on Monday.”

Sigurdsson’s departure has inflamed supporters’ passions, with many accusing the club of lacking ambition.

However, others feel a club in Reading’s financial position could not afford to turn down £7 million for a player who came through the youth system.

“In a fans’ world and in my world you do not want to lose a player like Gylfi,” insisted McDermott. “What it has done is stabilise this club and all we can do is thank him for that. It’s a record deal, a massive amount of money.

“Earlier I was talking about players having to leave and not being able to do this-or-that. Now it’s a different ball game and there are grounds for optimism.”

Royals chairman Sir John Madejski bore the brunt of fans’ fury for sanctioning Sigurdsson’s transfer.

Reading were forced to slash their playing budget when Premier League parachute payments worth £12 million a year ran out last season.

“The chairman’s happy,” added McDermott. “But he’s not happy Gylfi’s gone and if anyone thinks he is they are kidding themselves.

“He knows what a top person and player Gylfi was. In an ideal world we would have kept him but it’s the economics of the situation.

“He’s not happy Gylfi left but the other side is it takes the pressure off the chairman because if there is a deficit somewhere he has to fund it.”

The addition of Khizanishvili, Harte, Hendrie and possibly more on loan will also ease Reading’s injury woes, while the two week international break should help others recover for the next fixture against Crystal Palace a week this Saturday.

“We should have a few coming back like Andy Griffin, Brynjar Gunnarsson and Marcus Williams as well as the new players we’ve signed,” stated McDermott.

“We were literally down to the bare bones defensively at Leicester and our squad looks much healthier now and we are stronger in numbers.

“We’re missing a fantastic player in Gylfi but the test for me and the players now is to prove that we can work together for the right results.”

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This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 06 Sep 10

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