Hammond hints at permanent Murray deal

Nicky Hammond has mainly been delivering bad news this week, but it seems that there is some good transfer news after all.

The future of Royals striker Glenn Murray has been called into doubt following Hammond’s quotes on how we won’t do many dealings in the January window. However, he did hint that a deal is in place and funds are available to sign the Palace man on a permanent deal next month.

Speaking to the BBC, the Royals’ director of football revealed: ‘If we want to move forward with that deal in January, then money is there to do it. The owners sanctioned the signings of Simon Cox, Oliver Norwood, Jamie Mackie and Glenn Murray in the last transfer window.’

‘That approval was given by them without completing the sale process of the club, so you have to respect that support. There is some flex with regards to bringing players in, but not a lot. We are trying to get the balance right and it has to be within the constraints of FFP.’

That is good news, but just because we can afford to bring him here, it doesn’t mean he will be a Reading player come January – other teams will be interested. I’m still not totally convinced by Murray, so even if we lost him, a decent replacement shouldn’t be too hard to find.