Last week, an 11-year transfer saga finally came to an end as Shane Long put pen to paper on a return to Reading, 17 years after originally joining in 2005.
However, for every long-running pursuit that comes off, there are hundreds that never come to fruition.
We look at five players in that past that the Royals had long-standing interest in but could never get over the line.
Tommy Smith
Championship stalwart Smith was a first-choice target for incoming boss Brendan Rodgers back in 2009.
Replacing the legendary Steve Coppell, Kevin Doyle was sold for more than £6m, and to replace him the current Leicester City manager wanted to raid his former club and take Smith from Vicarage Road.
A report in July 2009 claimed that Smith also “wanted” to make the switch the Madejski Stadium after hitting 17 goals and 12 assists.
The Royals had more than one bid rejected, and he ended up joining Portsmouth for double Rodgers’ main offer of £750,000.
Scoring just once at Fratton Park, the then-30-year-old lasted a year before moving to the likes of QPR, Cardiff City and Brentford.
Tom Rogic
The Celtic stalwart departed after a decade in Glasgow this summer, but it could’ve bene Berkshire he was heading to and not Scotland.
Originally having the chance to pick up the Australia international in 2011, he was refused a work permit and had to sign pro terms for Central Coast Mariners.
Making another move in 2013, the two clubs had appeared to have agreed on terms until the Scottish giants came in, with the midfielder opting to go north of the border.
Trying for a third time in 2016 when his deal was running up at Celtic Park, again nothing materialised as he signed an extension and remained for another six years.
In an interview to the Reading Chronicle, former Royal Andy Bernal recently revealed that he tried to do a deal with the club as Rogic’s agent, but the deal could not get done.
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Nakhi Wells
Another which cropped up on multiple occasions, the Bermudan was always a thorn in the Royals’ side. First linked under Nigel Adkins in 2014, the loveable optimist remained coy on the rumour.
It did not come to be that season as Adam Le Fondre, Billy Sharp and Pavel Pograbnyak fired the club to the brink of the play-offs. Once again, he was touted in 2017, with just six months remaining on his contract with Huddersfield Town, but he ended up at Premier League Burnley.
He has tormented Reading ever since, netting seven in 17 matches against the club.
Tom Bradshaw
A wanted man while in-form with Walsall, it was at Barnsley that Reading pursued the Welsh striker.
The 2017/18 season, under both Jaap Stam and Paul Clement, the Barnsley forward was a target having hit 12 goals for a relegated Barnsley side.
Ultimately nothing came to be, but it was a rumour that refused to go away over the course of two campaigns.
Now 29, he hit eight goals for Millwall last season.
Ronan Curtis
Linked as recently as last season, the 26-year-old midfielder has regularly caught the eye for Portsmouth in the fourth and third divisions.
A rumour that was always going to struggle to be any more than that during a time at which the club were under a transfer embargo, Pompey were after just £500,000 for the Republic of Ireland international.
Still young…there’s always next time.
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