Hammond: We could lose best players

With no new owner yet on the horizon, Nicky Hammond admitted we could go back to losing our key players in the summer.

With Sir John Madejski back in charge of the club, while he have good stability, the money isn’t exactly free flowing. This means we could go back to days of having to sell our key players to balance the books, with Alex McCarthy and Jordan Obita making good names for themselves.

Speaking to the Reading Post, the Royals’ director of football said: ‘There are five games to go and we`re in a play-off position. But you have to be realistic and pragmatic as well. Too many young players now move, go to bigger clubs and don`t get an opportunity.’

‘If a player has a good opportunity in the summer and we aren`t in the Premier League then of course we would have to look at that situation. The important thing for me this season was to try to keep the squad together. My hope always has been that those players go on with us.’

This again emphasises how crucial it is that we attempt to bring in new investment into the club ASAP, especially if Adkins wants to build a squad for next season. It is merely one step forward and two back if you sell your key players, so we need to avoid this at all costs.

To be honest though, I can only imagine McCarthy would be primed for a Premier League move in the summer and on the balance, would he be a massive miss with Feders on the bench though? If McCarthy is off the summer, we wouldn’t need to look far for a replacement.