Sources: Reading agree to sign Aston Villa product Knibbs with medical scheduled
Reading have agreed a deal to sign forward Harvey Knibbs on a free transfer, sources have told Football Insider.

The 24-year-old is set to undergo a medical at the Berkshire club.

Reading have reached a full agreement over a deal for Knibbs after fending off interest from rival clubs.

The attacker made 47 appearances across all competitions for Cambridge last season, scoring five goals and providing six assists.

The former Aston Villa youngster will help bolster Reading’s attacking options having seen a number of players leave following their relegation from the Championship.

Knibbs spent two years with the Villans’ under-23s side before joining Cambridge United on a permanent deal in 2019.

The striker made 28 appearances for the under-18s and 29-appearances for the under-21s and scored a total of 17 goals and provided four assists in those outings.

Earlier this month (2 June), Football Insider revealed that Championship side Huddersfield Town were keen on signing the striker this summer and had been keeping tabs on him throughout the season.

The attacker was also attracting interest from Derby County and Bristol City who had also been following him last seaosn.

Now, it is Reading who have landed Knibbs’ services for the 2023-24 campaign and beyond.

The Royals were relegated from the Championship after finishing 22nd in the division.

The club begin their League One campaign and will be hopeful to head straight back up to the Championship.

In other news, Reading are set to appoint former Southampton manager as deal agreed.

From usually reliable Pete O'Rourke

24 years old so not a kid anymore and should potentially be coming into his best years. Not a bad record at a troubled Cambridge from last season and I think one or two that have seen Cambridge on here spoke fairly highly of him as well.

Hopefully with some better players around him we might be able to see a bit more output goals/assists wise but I'd trust the club with this judgement anyway and I'm pretty pleased with this, on paper at least anyway. Not seen much of him but seems to come with some good ratings from others as well. A positive amongst the chaos by the sounds of it.

Cambridge rate the lad highly. Sounds promising.

24, free, lower league experience, ok let’s see what he can do. The only question I would have is, is he any better than Clarke or Ehib? And are signings like this blocking academy products coming through? Either way he’s free and will be on small wages so worth a punt I suppose.

Looks hopeful. Was he the chap someone asked Ian about, a winger I think who was a bit lightweight?

Left a nice message and video to say goodbye to cufc I see. Seems a good chap

Goal or Assist every 286 minutes at L1 level and at 24 should still improve.

If this comes to pass, exactly the kind of signing we should be looking at and positive signs that we are able to attract players.

Also looking at Transfermarkt - he doesn't seem to be an out and out striker, more of a #10 who can play up front.

Him and Sam Smith as a double signing would be good

Played as a winger, not a striker when I saw him. Looked light weight but tidy. Got stick for lack of effort from the home fans.

Much like the whole Cambridge side there was some skill there, but not much backbone or end product.

Although his record belies that performance on end product at least. If you asked me Azeez or Camara or Knibbs, I wouldn't chose the latter off the one game I saw.

Right kind of signing, but don't expect too much given he was fighting L1 relegation last season.

I'll ask around too.

From the game I saw, if I was going to sign anyone from Cambridge it would be:

Morrison
Bennett (RB)
McGrandles
Brophy
Smith

In that order.

I remember mentioning this player a few weeks ago as my mate from Ely has seen him play for Cambridge and rates him highly.

I think he said he was a striker, which didn’t seem to fit. Was used LW from what I can see.

From the comments from Cambridge fans on Twitter, view seems to be that this best role was just behind the main striker but had been used on either wing and done ok there but better suited in an advanced central role.

I know nothing about him, but reasonable stats for an attacking midfielder in a struggling team. A bit of experience but at an age where he can still improve.

So sounds like the right sort of signing.

Sounds like he could be quite good behind Andy Carroll. One our of big issues has been Carroll winning flick ons but being thirty yards away from anyone else, so we lose the ball. This guy seems to have a bit of pace about him, so would have the ability to cause defences problems simply by running at them.

CONFIRMED

Great news!

Looking at Cambridge sites etc they highly praise his work ethic, chasing causes, closing down players, selles high press incoming!!

Glad to get this over the line, at least it's something. Hopefully he will be able to flourish with ourselves.

His stats are sh1t. Apparently Derby and Huddersfield were also interested in him.

Hope he's better than his stats suggest he is.

EDIT: cos they're sh1t.

Good stuff, see Bowen taking centre stage in the vid…

Hopefully a few more in shortly

Good work. Several more needs, but a positive 24 hours at least.

Seems like the "right" sort of signing. Clearly been tracked by Bowen and Carey for a while, young enough to improve but experienced enough to make an immediate impact. Pressing highlighted as a strength which will suit Selles.

A very positive signing at this level. I know this sad but life feels good again, LOL.

It's a point though. Many fans were moaning last season when we were linked with players with underwhelming/poor stats. It's almost as if if it fits the narrative of what the fans want, rather than what is actually needed, then it passes.

Not being negative, I'm always of the idea that it's not about what someone has done before but what they can do for you and if the recruitment team think that Knibbs can thrive and improve in our team then I'm happy enough with that. But there is a view that some fans seem happy with this because it fits the narrative of young player, when his stats at this level aren't too dissimilar to others we've been linked with that were more experienced, but never really stood out.

Stats are for geeks and paedophiles.

It's a point though. Many fans were moaning last season when we were linked with players with underwhelming/poor stats. It's almost as if if it fits the narrative of what the fans want, rather than what is actually needed, then it passes.

Not being negative, I'm always of the idea that it's not about what someone has done before but what they can do for you and if the recruitment team think that Knibbs can thrive and improve in our team then I'm happy enough with that. But there is a view that some fans seem happy with this because it fits the narrative of young player, when his stats at this level aren't too dissimilar to others we've been linked with that were more experienced, but never really stood out.
Stats are dependant on what the player has been asked to do: if you've been told not to press - you're pressing stats are going to be lower than someone who's been asked to press, etc. Also Knibbs was playing for a rather poor Cambridge side last season, so that will have a bearing on his stats.

We won't know how we intend to use him until he plays - will he be a lone striker, played in strike partnership, used as a wide forward or as an attacking midfielder? What stats are even relevant will depend on this.

you dont need to put a 1 in shit btw its not filtered on here

It's a point though. Many fans were moaning last season when we were linked with players with underwhelming/poor stats. It's almost as if if it fits the narrative of what the fans want, rather than what is actually needed, then it passes.

Not being negative, I'm always of the idea that it's not about what someone has done before but what they can do for you and if the recruitment team think that Knibbs can thrive and improve in our team then I'm happy enough with that. But there is a view that some fans seem happy with this because it fits the narrative of young player, when his stats at this level aren't too dissimilar to others we've been linked with that were more experienced, but never really stood out.
Stats are dependant on what the player has been asked to do: if you've been told not to press - you're pressing stats are going to be lower than someone who's been asked to press, etc. Also Knibbs was playing for a rather poor Cambridge side last season, so that will have a bearing on his stats.

We won't know how we intend to use him until he plays - will he be a lone striker, played in strike partnership, used as a wide forward or as an attacking midfielder? What stats are even relevant will depend on this.

Agree and that's sort of my point as to why I don't always take previous stats into account, because if we are looking at players who are potentially more suited to our system and their best qualities can be brought out with us then obviously you'd anticipate an improvement.

A lot of fans moaned a fair bit about players with underwhelming records when we were linked with some last season, obviously it's about what they can do for us, where they can fit in, can we improve on something, have we seen another part of his game that wasn't used at his previous clubs but we can look to utilise that etc. You'd anticipate that's the case if Bowen's words are true where he says he's been on our radar for sometime.

Last 2 strikers signed from Cambridge worked out ok, Butler & Kitson