Reading manager Brian McDermott has revealed that he tried to sign former midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson on deadline day.
The former Slough Town boss admitted that he was still after one player before the 11pm deadline, but would not reveal the mystery player that was subject of a club record bid. However, Brian has revealed that the player in question was former Royals midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, but Spurs rejected a bid in the region of £10 million for the Sig.
Speaking to Jonny Fordham of the Reading Post, McDermott said: ‘We tried to bring him back. We had spoken to Spurs and we made three offers. I thought at one stage we had a real chance of doing a deal, but unfortunately, we couldn’t manage to do it. Gylfi is a Tottenham player, but we’ve known him since he was 13-years-old.’
‘It would have been great to bring him back. I haven’t had a lot of sleep in the last three days. After the Chelsea game I watched the tape back and went to bed at about 3.45am – I got up at 7am and then came to work. Then last night I left here at 11.15pm.’
Many thought the player in question was Thomas Ince, but to find it out was Gylfi, was a bit of a shock. I’m even more shocked to see we bid for his services, when I would have a thought a loan move would be more realistic. Overall, the majority of Royals fans seem very content with our January dealings.
Wiki page: Gylfi Sigurdsson
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a little naughty of Brian to talk about this in my opinion and I assume it was more about trying to show that Reading have ambition and an ability to get quality players in. I assume that due to your signing a majority of lower league and unknown players there is a little negativity, but I actually think he might have pulled off a great deal in Hope Akpan, who I feel will be an absolute bargain
I agree that Brian was a bit out of order to do so, but this window he has openly spoke about players quite a lot, which he has never done before. It may be because he wanted to prove a point to our fans who have slated our transfer policy, branding it boring. However, like you said, Akpan looks as if he is going to be an astute signing.