Rodgers needs two to complete jigsaw - from The Chronic

[readingbedding]

READING are attempting to sign two more players to complete their squad for next season.

As exclusively revealed in the Chronicle, boss Brendan Rodgers made his first summer signing last week by landing Chelsea full-back Ryan Bertrand on a one-year loan deal.

But it appears moves to bring in Tottenham Hotspur defender Dorian Dervite on a similar loan have hit a stumbling block.

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp is reluctant to let go of the 6ft 3ins centre-back until he brings in a defender of his own.

Royals were also linked with Dervite's team-mate Adel Taarabt who saw a move to Spanish side Malaga collapse.

But the French-Moroccan playmaker has returned for second loan spell with QPR, this time for the season.

Rodgers is in the market for an attacking midfielder, though there is little progress on the Tommy Smith front.

Smith, 29, wants to come to the Madejski Stadium but the Hornets rejected a bid of around £800,000. They subsequently accepted £1.8 million from Sheffield United and Reading are yet to make an improved offer.

Royals' director of football Nick Hammond explained: "We're still looking to do more deals and bring in a couple of players.

"But it's not easy at the moment because a lot of Premier League clubs seem to be keeping their cards close to their chest.

"It's as though they need to sort out their own business first before dealing with players who they may allow to leave. We have put out a number of calls and we are waiting to for a response. It's slow progress.

"There are still a couple of areas we need to strengthen. If we can get an extra couple of bodies in we will be very competitive this season.

"We have until the end of August but ideally we want them in sooner rather than later. However, it is not always possible to do that so we will see how things pan out."

Royals desperately need more firepower after losing Kevin Doyle, Leroy Lita and Dave Kitson this summer.

Rodgers believes Smith, who has rejected the Blades, will add talent and experience to his relatively young squad.

"He's a player who has turned down a number of other moves," Rodgers said recently. "We made an offer, there was a number of other offers for Tommy, and then a big one came in.

"But he wants to come here. Nick Hammond has been communicating with the chairman there and hopefully we can have some sort of resolution. But at the moment he's a Watford player."

Sources suggest Charlton's £1.5 million-rated Nicky Bailey could also be on Rodgers' radar as a possible replacement for Stephen Hunt.

And Jobi McAnuff is another possibility as Rodgers rates his former Watford winger extremely highly.

Reports suggest Portsmouth and Birmingham could be set to offer £4 million for the Republic of Ireland winger who is looking for a move this summer.

Hunt, 27, did not travel with the Reading squad to Sweden on Wednesday for a week-long pre-season tour, though the club insists he has a groin injury.

Ivar Ingimarsson and Julian Kelly were also left behind while they recover from injury

[Agent Balti]

Just two? I don't think the writer knows his jigsaws from his elbows.

[floyd__streete]

We'll probably end up with Robert Codner and Lubomir Blaha.

[IMAMATEOFJOVSKY]

We'll have Egoman bleating on that the current squad is good enough --which it plainly isnt...and now all of a sudden its time to give youth a chance...Id love to be proved wrong, but 8th at the very best this season

Hammond tows the party line saying its very difficult - doesnt seem to be stopping other clubs.....

[Thaumagurist*]

We'll have Egoman bleating on that the current squad is good enough

I'm starting to have some loathing for you. "Egoman"? "bleating"?

May I remind you that it was Coppell who felt that the squad was good enough when he couldn't find anyone good enough (i.e. to be better than the players already in the squad) to buy with the cash he had. Not Mr Madejski. But hey, anything to beat him with. You are an idiot.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Posts that do not have insults are much better, mr Madjeski has the club at heart, many of us do not believe that we are good enough, same as last season, mid table mediocrity anyone, and the season before, when many said we needed to build on 8th as we would be found out, all seems to have come true, but does that need the silly name calling??

[Schards#2]

We'll have Egoman bleating on that the current squad is good enough

I'm starting to have some loathing for you. "Egoman"? "bleating"?

May I remind you that it was Coppell who felt that the squad was good enough when he couldn't find anyone good enough (i.e. to be better than the players already in the squad) to buy with the cash he had. Not Mr Madejski. But hey, anything to beat him with. You are an idiot.

With all due respect Spacey, some of us expressed doubts about Coppell have money available and not spending it at the time, The fact that after selling a player for £6.5m and getting an £11m parachute payment, his successor still isn't going to spend anything seems to vindicate this opinion.

[Sun Tzu]

With all due respect Spacey, some of us expressed doubts about Coppell have money available and not spending it at the time, The fact that after selling a player for £6.5m and getting an £11m parachute payment, his successor still isn't going to spend anything seems to vindicate this opinion.

Although the fact that Coppell did spend money would contradict it !


What this manager does or doesn't do also doesn't really tell us why another manager did something 1, 2 or 3 years ago.
I'm not sure whether to believe what Coppell said or what HNA posters assume ! Tough call.....

[Royal With Cheese]

I always suspected that Coppell was taking a fall for Madejski's prudence during those interviews.

[CMRoyal]

We'll have Egoman bleating on that the current squad is good enough

I'm starting to have some loathing for you. "Egoman"? "bleating"?

May I remind you that it was Coppell who felt that the squad was good enough when he couldn't find anyone good enough (i.e. to be better than the players already in the squad) to buy with the cash he had. Not Mr Madejski. But hey, anything to beat him with. You are an idiot.

Coppell was far too diplomatic and by-the-book to do anything than give the official line. I can't imagine the stick he'd be getting were he still manager and had done no more than bring in a 19-year-old on loan who plays in the same position as our PotS.

I'm still expecting a "squad is good enough" comment from BR in the next couple of weeks, even if we fall short of the 3 or 4 players he said we needed originally.

[Schards#2]

With all due respect Spacey, some of us expressed doubts about Coppell have money available and not spending it at the time, The fact that after selling a player for £6.5m and getting an £11m parachute payment, his successor still isn't going to spend anything seems to vindicate this opinion.

Although the fact that Coppell did spend money would contradict it !


What this manager does or doesn't do also doesn't really tell us why another manager did something 1, 2 or 3 years ago.
I'm not sure whether to believe what Coppell said or what HNA posters assume ! Tough call.....

Unless you are particularly selective with the dates, the net spend is generally minimal or negative over Coppell's last few seasons.

[howser]

Can only agree with that Schards, we have failed the past two seasons due to lack of investment in players and so far this time around, with a new manager we are still bumbling along. Sadly the vast amounts that the Prem sides, particularly Man City, are paying in transfer fees migrates down the leaguse and the reluctance of the club to spend will again dent any hopes of success this year, although I have no doubt they are feaverishly scouring the French second division for quality bargains.

[Sun Tzu]

With all due respect Spacey, some of us expressed doubts about Coppell have money available and not spending it at the time, The fact that after selling a player for £6.5m and getting an £11m parachute payment, his successor still isn't going to spend anything seems to vindicate this opinion.

Although the fact that Coppell did spend money would contradict it !


What this manager does or doesn't do also doesn't really tell us why another manager did something 1, 2 or 3 years ago.
I'm not sure whether to believe what Coppell said or what HNA posters assume ! Tough call.....

Unless you are particularly selective with the dates, the net spend is generally minimal or negative over Coppell's last few seasons.

Thanks to most of our major bids failing to be accepted !!

[Sun Tzu]

Can only agree with that Schards, we have failed the past two seasons due to lack of investment in players and so far this time around, with a new manager we are still bumbling along. Sadly the vast amounts that the Prem sides, particularly Man City, are paying in transfer fees migrates down the leaguse and the reluctance of the club to spend will again dent any hopes of success this year, although I have no doubt they are feaverishly scouring the French second division for quality bargains.

You know there is a problem when people expect the fact that Man City are trying to empty a bottomless pit to mean we will start chucking money around !

[Thaumagurist*]

We'll have Egoman bleating on that the current squad is good enough

I'm starting to have some loathing for you. "Egoman"? "bleating"?

May I remind you that it was Coppell who felt that the squad was good enough when he couldn't find anyone good enough (i.e. to be better than the players already in the squad) to buy with the cash he had. Not Mr Madejski. But hey, anything to beat him with. You are an idiot.

With all due respect Spacey, some of us expressed doubts about Coppell have money available and not spending it at the time, The fact that after selling a player for £6.5m and getting an £11m parachute payment, his successor still isn't going to spend anything seems to vindicate this opinion.

......conveniently ignoring the fact that we did table a £800K bid for Tommy Smith.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Wow 800k, we must be really serious at getting back to the Prem.

[howser]

[quote="Sun Tzu"][quote="howser"]Can only agree with that Schards, we have failed the past two seasons due to lack of investment in players and so far this time around, with a new manager we are still bumbling along. Sadly the vast amounts that the Prem sides, particularly Man City, are paying in transfer fees migrates down the leaguse and the reluctance of the club to spend will again dent any hopes of success this year, although I have no doubt they are feaverishly scouring the French second division for quality bargains.[/quote]

You know there is a problem when people expect the fact that Man City are trying to empty a bottomless pit to mean we will start chucking money around ![/quote]

Not saying that ! what I am getting is that, due to their oscene spending, other clubs automatically up their prices as well, and we wer'nt preparde to pay last years fess so what chance this year.

[Thaumagurist*]

Wow 800k, we must be really serious at getting back to the Prem.

First you're moaning that we're not spending any money and now you're moaning that we're not spending enough.

FFS.

And I'd prefer VFM rather than spending obscene amounts of money just to satisfy idiots like you.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

lets put it into a context you might understand spacey, £2 for a pint of Skol or £3 for a pint of Stella, one will get you where you want to get faster, the other may or may not. which option would you go for??

[Thaumagurist*]

Depends on what money I've got in my pocket.