Reading FC most value for money striker this decade

One of them, Romanian George Puscas, looks set to be departing the club in the summer just three years after joining for a reported club-record fee.

Below we look at the 10 and see who has provided the most value for money with the Royals by analysing the cost per goal scored.

READ MORE: Marc McNulty says Reading is “not a nice place" and he's delighted to be leaving

Marc McNulty- £1,200,000 per goal

Joining the club in 2018 off the back of a prolific spell with Coventry City, expectations were that the Scot could be a potential diamond in the rough that Paul Clement could polish ahead of a debut campaign in the second tier. Signed on a four-year contract, it was hoped that he could fill a void left by the departing Yann Kermorgant. Unfortunately, it was not to be as he scored just one goal for the side, in a win over Stoke City, but his most infamous act in a Royals shirt would be his stoppage time penalty miss at Elland Road in a 1-0 defeat to Leeds United. Still under contract up until this summer, he has not made a league appearance since 2019 and has spent the last three seasons on loan with Sunderland, Hibernian and Dundee United. Reading fans will be in no hurry to look back on the 29-year-old’s time at the SCL Stadium, but that is reciprocated after the Livingston academy graduate slammed the club in a Scottish newspaper.

George Puscas- £375,000 per goal

The aforementioned Puscas joined to much fanfare in the summer of 2019 as the club went on a spending spree toward the end of the window. Arriving from Inter Milan, the record-signing had a promising debut campaign, netting 14 times as the world was rocked by the Covid-19 pandemic. Stand-out moments included his brace against Cardiff City and his sub-five-minute hattrick at Wigan Athletic, enough to encourage the supporters that the following season could be an exciting one. Unfortunately, some glaring misses and a general drop in confidence saw the Romania international net just four times as the Royals reached the cusp of the play-offs- although he only played 21 times. Featuring more prominently in the first half of last season, his return of just two goals, one in the league and one in shock-defeat to non- league Kidderminster Harriers, saw him farmed out on loan to the second tier of Italian football. He thrived in Seire B, scoring eight as Pisa lost in the play-off final. Despite missing out on promotion, it could still be enough to tempt the Nerazzuri to part with some cash and sign him permanently.

Sam Baldock- £227,273 per goal

A contentious entry as the “undisclosed” figure paid by Reading has varied from one million pounds to a potential five millions pounds- a large difference. This figure is based off the fee being £2.5m. Joining after a less than prolific spell of 20 in 94 for Brighton, he brought Championship experience and a willingness to run which excited supporters after a disappointing fall-off of a 21st place finish after reaching the play-off final in 2017. Never really suiting Baldock’s system, he produced just 11 goals in 74 appearances for the club before being released in 2021.

Orlando Sa- £200,000 per goal

Signed for approximately one million pounds under Steve Clarke, he played a big role in the exhilarating start to the 2015/16 campaign which saw the Royals sat in the automatic promotion places in October. Joining from Legia Warsaw, a debut penalty miss was not the ideal start but four goals in two games at the end of August and beginning of September, including a memorable hattrick in a 5-1 demolition of Ipswich Town, gave the supporters hope that he was the real deal. It was not to be, as the wheels came off the promotion push and Sa scored just once more, in the capitulation at Craven Cottage, before drifting out of the team upon the return of Brian McDermott. He would depart the club after just half a season in the January, going on to play for the likes of Standard Liege and Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

Lucas Joao- £131,579 per goal

Alongside Puscas, Joao was the marquee signing of 2019. After a stop-start five years with Sheffield Wednesday, in which he scored 29 goals, the now-Angola international was expected to be the second-best striker signed that summer behind the Pisa loanee. An understated start, scoring just six in an injury-hit first season, he burst into life as the side spent most of last season in the play-offs as he netted an impressive 22 goals in 40 matches- becoming the first Reading player to hit 20 since Shane Long a decade before. Despite the side dropping off in the league, and the former Portugal international managing just 21 league appearances, he still managed to find the back of the net 10 times to make it back-to-back double figure seasons for the first time.

Deniss Rakels- £126,666 per goal

A signing out of leftfield, Latvian star Rakels had come to the club off of the back of scoring 28 in 68 in the Polish top-flight, joining for approximately £380,000 [500,000 Euro in 2016]. Despite netting just three times for the club, his name will forever be in folklore for scoring a stoppage time winner in a crazy 4-3 win over Charlton Athletic in 2016- his debut goal for Reading. He left in 2018 having played just 17 times, playing in Cyprus and Latvia since.

 Simon Cox- £66,666 per goal

Arriving in 2014 for his second spell at the club, Reading-born Cox cost the club a reported £600,000 from Nottingham Forest. A regular under Nigel Adkins and Clarke in his second debut campaign, he scored eight in 43 appearances as the side came 19th in the league and reached the FA Cup semi-final. A period of transition followed in RG2 and Cox played just 17 times the following season, as well as an additional four on loan at Bristol City, scoring just one. He was released in 2016 and had a successful spell with Southend United before rounding off his career in Australia.

Nick Blackman- £61,360 per goal

A man who’s Royals career virtually comes down to a half-season purple patch in 2015/16, Blackman was a true enigma for the club. Joining a Premier League Reading in 2013, he scored four for the club the following season as Adkins’ side nearly made an immediate return to the top-flight. Another nondescript season followed in 2014 as he hit five in 43 but then he exploded into life in 2015, hitting a whopping 11 in 25 league matches at the beginning of the season. Attracting plenty of attention from elsewhere, it was Clement’s Derby County who stumped up more than three million pounds for the Barbados international. A solitary goal in almost 30 Pride Park appearances saw him move to Israel and Spain.

Jon-Dadi Bodvarsson- £58,824

Costing a rumoured million pounds from Wolves in 2017, the Iceland international had scored just three for Walter Zenga’s side the season before. A regular in his two years with the Royals, he hit 14 league goals in just over 50 appearances- as well as his memorable hattrick in the FA Cup against Stevenage in which he wore both the home and away shirt due to kit clashes.

Yann Kermorgant- £25,000

‘Form is temporary, class is Kermorgant.’ Already 35 by the time he rocked up in Berkshire, three in his debut campaign hardly set the world alight. However, the following season he was like a man possessed as he hit a career best 19 in 48 appearances as the team were on the brink of Premier League promotion. Two in his final season was disappointing, but his legend had been confirmed for his 2016/17 heroics.