The hitman - on loan from Premiership side Crystal Palace until January - has been one of Royals’ star men this season having netted five goals in 11 games to be the club’s second-top scorer behind Simon Cox.

Murray’s form has prompted suggestions he could join the Championship leaders when the January transfer window opens, but Adkins said it will not prove a distraction.

He declared: “I’m long enough in the tooth now.

“It starts to build up into January and I think there was a research paper that came out which said a big percentage of rumours are totally untrue.

“It’s to generate interest and you do everything you can not to get bogged down by it but I know it’s human nature and people like speculating.

“That’s what makes football so interesting, people are talking about it all the time.”

He added: “Glenn’s playing with us, he’s training hard and even if you want to keep things private now it seems that’s not the case, it’s the modern game and you’ve just got to get on with it.”

Murrray is set to start up front alongside Cox in tonight's Championship clash at Cardiff City (7.45pm ko).

Garath McCleary is likely to make his first appearance of the season following an operation on his back over the summer, while fit-again Shaun Cummings could also be named in Adkins' squad.

But central midfielder Hope Akpan has been ruled out for three months after dislocating his shoulder playing for Nigeria in an African Cup of Nations qualifer against Congo recently. The 23-year-old is due to have an operation on Monday.