CONFIMRED: Orlando Sa to Maccabi Tel Aviv

[Royal_jimmy]

Hopefully the add ons will recuperate the full million we paid

[andrew1957]

Would love to know what has happened with Sa. Thought he was brilliant the Ipswich game and we had a star on our hands then he got sent off against Derby and has done nothing since. One can only assume that for whatever reason he does not want to be here or thinks RFC are beneath him. A great shame really but if we can get £600K plus add ons (as said in Get Reading) then that would seem fair enough to me under the circumstances. Some signings just don't work out.

[Nameless]

I can only assume our players really hate Y26 and have found their attempts at songs to be insulting.
Only way to explain both Blackman and Sa storming off in a huff at the earliest opportunity.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Charles Watts reckons Sa's whore wife hasn't settled, so that's obvs part of the reason.

[72 bus]

How is 34 year old Kermorgant a better option as number ten than Orlando? I don't really get it.

Here, let me help you

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yann_Kermorgant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_S%C3%A1

[KC Royal]

Wouldn't surprise me at all if there are issues behind the scenes. I remember when we signed him Archie's penalty gave an account of his time in Poland, which as i recall gave the impression that if he wasn't starting games then we could have a problem on our hands.

http://www.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... 7#p4193030

My two cents on Sa on the Tilehurst End (I watch a lot of Polish football for my sins) http://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/201 ... reading-fc

Portuguese striker Orlando Sá looks set to sign for Reading from Legia Warsaw for a fee which is rumoured to be € 1.5 million. For a club like Reading who are desperate for any kind of transfer activity, the transfer has been met with a mixture of relief and excitement as finally the club seem to be preparing for the upcoming season. But who is Orlando Sá and is this transfer the right fit for Reading FC?

Sá's career is in many ways one of unfulfilled promise. Starting out at Braga the player made his mark in the Portuguese under-21s with a couple of hat-tricks before moving on to Porto for a fee of 3 million Euros in 2009. Injuries meant Sá was never really able to achieve much at Porto and he eventually joined Fulham in 2011 where Sá also failed to impress - his contract was terminated in the summer of 2012. The last three seasons have been the proverbial last chance saloon for Sá and they have seen him finally live up to expectations, first with regular goals for the Cypriot club Apollon Limassol and most recently for the club from Poland's capital Legia Warsaw.

Sá's time at Legia has been one of highs and lows. The main plus about his stay in Warsaw are the goals he has scored. In his 25 Ekstraklasa (Polish top flight) appearances in the 2014-5 season, Sá scored 13 times - he's certainly not a player to fluff a chance. On the other hand Sá has increasingly shown himself to be a player with an attitude problem. There have been consistent murmurings this season that Legia's manager Henning Berg and Sá do not see eye to eye, and the concrete proof of this is the amount of times Sá has either been on the bench for Legia or left out of match-day squads - indeed 11 of his appearances this season have been as a substitute.

As indicated elsewhere the problems between Berg and Sá could simply be due to Berg's prediliction for a 4-5-1 formation with a mobile false-nine rather than the classic front-man play that Sá provides. While this may be true there have been clear examples recently of petulant behaviour from Sá both on and off the pitch. In the last match of the season against Górnik Zabrze Sá refused to wait to be substituted after signalling to the bench he was carrying an injury, he then proceeded to sulk in the changing rooms - refusing to collect the league runners-up medal that Legia had won with his teammates. This reaction angered fans and club authorities alike, and it was clear that Sá would not play for Legia again.

In terms of style of play, Sá has the potential to be a success at Reading. He is strong, good at holding the ball up, decent with his feet, and can score goals both on the ground and in the air. While he did not play as regularly as he would have liked for Legia, when he did he more often than not took the goal scoring chances that came his way. Reading fans might question Sá's rate of goals in a relatively unknown league, can the striker play at Championship level? In my opinion he definitely has it in him to be a success in England, firstly (as a regular watcher of both leagues) the Polish top flight is of approximately the same standard as the Championship, secondly Sá (although not always starting) was an important part of a Legia side which topped its Europa League group last autumn. Finally Sá will have something to prove in England after his failure at Fulham, who knows - this could be his last chance of playing in a top European league - that is if Reading get promoted or Premier League scouts notice him.

It is intriguing to consider what Steve Clarke has in mind for his new striker. Sá is a classic centre forward and in some ways duplicates what we already have in Pavel Pogrebnyak, although Sá is certainly a better finisher than the Russian. Can the two play together in a 4-4-2? I think that this option definitely should be tried by Clarke, although both of them are classic number nines they are both good on the floor and have decent awareness. They undoubtedly have the intelligence and strength to scare Championship defences. I would also advise Clarke to start Sá due to the Portuguese player's outsized ego, were Sá to end up on the bench like at Legia I'd worry about him disrupting the balance of the Reading changing room.

Reading's purchase of Sá has the potential to be a great acquisition, especially if Pogrebnyak and Sá click on the pitch. If not, then expect the Portuguese striker to stir up trouble and leave in a huff in twelve months time. As Reading fans we of course hope the former scenario to turn out to be correct.

Thanks for this, couldn't be bothered to trawl through HNA trying to find it, and confirms what I thought.
Credit to AP, he may well have got it spot on...

[Longhorn1970]

Wouldn't surprise me at all if there are issues behind the scenes. I remember when we signed him Archie's penalty gave an account of his time in Poland, which as i recall gave the impression that if he wasn't starting games then we could have a problem on our hands.

http://www.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... 7#p4193030

My two cents on Sa on the Tilehurst End (I watch a lot of Polish football for my sins) http://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/201 ... reading-fc

Portuguese striker Orlando Sá looks set to sign for Reading from Legia Warsaw for a fee which is rumoured to be € 1.5 million. For a club like Reading who are desperate for any kind of transfer activity, the transfer has been met with a mixture of relief and excitement as finally the club seem to be preparing for the upcoming season. But who is Orlando Sá and is this transfer the right fit for Reading FC?

Sá's career is in many ways one of unfulfilled promise. Starting out at Braga the player made his mark in the Portuguese under-21s with a couple of hat-tricks before moving on to Porto for a fee of 3 million Euros in 2009. Injuries meant Sá was never really able to achieve much at Porto and he eventually joined Fulham in 2011 where Sá also failed to impress - his contract was terminated in the summer of 2012. The last three seasons have been the proverbial last chance saloon for Sá and they have seen him finally live up to expectations, first with regular goals for the Cypriot club Apollon Limassol and most recently for the club from Poland's capital Legia Warsaw.

Sá's time at Legia has been one of highs and lows. The main plus about his stay in Warsaw are the goals he has scored. In his 25 Ekstraklasa (Polish top flight) appearances in the 2014-5 season, Sá scored 13 times - he's certainly not a player to fluff a chance. On the other hand Sá has increasingly shown himself to be a player with an attitude problem. There have been consistent murmurings this season that Legia's manager Henning Berg and Sá do not see eye to eye, and the concrete proof of this is the amount of times Sá has either been on the bench for Legia or left out of match-day squads - indeed 11 of his appearances this season have been as a substitute.

As indicated elsewhere the problems between Berg and Sá could simply be due to Berg's prediliction for a 4-5-1 formation with a mobile false-nine rather than the classic front-man play that Sá provides. While this may be true there have been clear examples recently of petulant behaviour from Sá both on and off the pitch. In the last match of the season against Górnik Zabrze Sá refused to wait to be substituted after signalling to the bench he was carrying an injury, he then proceeded to sulk in the changing rooms - refusing to collect the league runners-up medal that Legia had won with his teammates. This reaction angered fans and club authorities alike, and it was clear that Sá would not play for Legia again.

In terms of style of play, Sá has the potential to be a success at Reading. He is strong, good at holding the ball up, decent with his feet, and can score goals both on the ground and in the air. While he did not play as regularly as he would have liked for Legia, when he did he more often than not took the goal scoring chances that came his way. Reading fans might question Sá's rate of goals in a relatively unknown league, can the striker play at Championship level? In my opinion he definitely has it in him to be a success in England, firstly (as a regular watcher of both leagues) the Polish top flight is of approximately the same standard as the Championship, secondly Sá (although not always starting) was an important part of a Legia side which topped its Europa League group last autumn. Finally Sá will have something to prove in England after his failure at Fulham, who knows - this could be his last chance of playing in a top European league - that is if Reading get promoted or Premier League scouts notice him.

It is intriguing to consider what Steve Clarke has in mind for his new striker. Sá is a classic centre forward and in some ways duplicates what we already have in Pavel Pogrebnyak, although Sá is certainly a better finisher than the Russian. Can the two play together in a 4-4-2? I think that this option definitely should be tried by Clarke, although both of them are classic number nines they are both good on the floor and have decent awareness. They undoubtedly have the intelligence and strength to scare Championship defences. I would also advise Clarke to start Sá due to the Portuguese player's outsized ego, were Sá to end up on the bench like at Legia I'd worry about him disrupting the balance of the Reading changing room.

Reading's purchase of Sá has the potential to be a great acquisition, especially if Pogrebnyak and Sá click on the pitch. If not, then expect the Portuguese striker to stir up trouble and leave in a huff in twelve months time. As Reading fans we of course hope the former scenario to turn out to be correct.

Thanks for this, couldn't be bothered to trawl through HNA trying to find it, and confirms what I thought.
Credit to AP, he may well have got it spot on...

Cox just gets on with it and bangs the goals in ..

[Longhorn1970]

I can only assume our players really hate Y26 and have found their attempts at songs to be insulting.
Only way to explain both Blackman and Sa storming off in a huff at the earliest opportunity.

Maybe it's a reflection on BM ?

[Platypuss]

I can only assume our players really hate Y26 and have found their attempts at songs to be insulting.
Only way to explain both Blackman and Sa storming off in a huff at the earliest opportunity.

Maybe it's a reflection on BM ?

That he susses out mardy disruptive influences and gets rid as soon as possible? Let's hope so.

[Longhorn1970]

I can only assume our players really hate Y26 and have found their attempts at songs to be insulting.
Only way to explain both Blackman and Sa storming off in a huff at the earliest opportunity.

Maybe it's a reflection on BM ?

That he susses out mardy disruptive influences and gets rid as soon as possible? Let's hope so.

Both clearly talented, if it was as simple as picking XI and they turned it on every week, it'd be p*ss easy .. Mayb he can't manage strong characters, some can

[Platypuss]

Any player who thinks he's stronger than the manager can as far as I'm concerned.

[Longhorn1970]

Any player who thinks he's stronger than the manager can as far as I'm concerned.

We dnt know that's the case ..

[Platypuss]

Maybe it's a reflection on BM ?

You started it......

[royalp-we]

€790,000 with a 40% sell on.

[Sutekh]

Orlando Sa is in talks with a club over a move away from Reading.

But Brian McDermott has revealed that it is not AEK Athens who are closing in on a deal for the Portuguese frontman.

The Greek side have been pursuing the 27-year-old in recent weeks and were confident of completing a £600,000 swoop.

But it appears they now face missing out on the striker - whose short spell at Madejski Stadium looks set to come to a premature end.

“There are talks going on,” said McDermott.

“There have been conversations between Reading and another club. We’ll see where that takes us over the weekend.

“I had a phone call from Athens about him. But I don’t think it’s them he’s talking to.

“I don’t know if it will happen. You never know until a deal is signed. We’ll have to wait and see.”

McDermott, whose side drew 1-1 with Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, then hinted that any potential incomings at Madejski Stadium will rest on whether Sa completes his move away,

He has been linked with a move for Latvian frontman Deniss Rakels, who plays for Polish side Cracovia Kraków.

“Let’s see what happens with Orlando,” said Royals’ boss. “And then we’ll see what happens after that.”

[John Smith]

I'm just glad that atrocious Orlando Sa chant will no longer be sung. Didn't make sense or rhyme.

[tidus_mi2]

I'm just glad that atrocious Orlando Sa chant will no longer be sung. Didn't make sense or rhyme.

And shamelessly stolen from Tshibola.

[Pepe the Horseman]

I'm just glad that atrocious Orlando Sa chant will no longer be sung. Didn't make sense or rhyme.

This. How difficult would it have been to go with Or-lan-do, which at least nearly rhymes with soul.

[maffff]

Charles Watts reckons Sa's whore wife hasn't settled, so that's obvs part of the reason.

Now that's a tweet I want to see - hope it's written exactly like that!

[Snowball136]

Well, if O-S is an arsehole, maybe he'll wait until the last day to leave
so he can bugger us up just a little more.