Reading went into the summer 2026 transfer window with a different challenge to previous years: the squad needed to be refined, not massively overhauled or rebuilt from scratch.
Last season was after all an unusually good one for longer-term planning, with Lewis Wing, Joel Pereira, Paudie O’Connor, Daniel Kyerewaa, Paddy Lane, Jack Marriott, Haydon Roberts and Benn Ward among those to sign multi-year contracts at some point.
Still, there was a fair amount for Leam Richardson, Joe Jacobson and co to
do over the last few months.
Jacobson and Rob Couhig put the requirement at around half a dozen first-team-quality signings, though that was before a few departures were confirmed, and to me (incorrectly) didn’t include a bit of necessary extra depth. Richardson on the other hand saw this summer as a “building window” – rather than the short-term approach Reading largely took in January 2026.
As for the overall standard needed, promotion was very clearly set as Couhig’s expectation for this season, so recruitment has had to meet that level. It goes without saying that Reading will always want to get as good players in as possible, but such clear demands from the owner have put extra onus on this squad being able to compete in the short term.
So how did Reading’s squad-building pan out?
The retained list and later departures
Let’s start with how the squad looked heading into the summer. Loanees Mark O’Mahony, Kamari Doyle, Finley Burns, Will Keane, Ryan Nyambe and Kadan Young returned to their parent clubs; Reading released Mamadi Camara, Ben Elliott, Michael Stickland, Tivonge Rushesha and Andy Yiadom; a one-year extension was activated in Jeriel Dorsett’s deal; and fresh terms were offered to Kelvin Abrefa and Andy Rinomhota.
The latter two did eventually put pen to paper – on two- and one-year contracts respectively. Still, Reading had lost a fair amount of depth across the pitch before any recruitment could be made – particularly up front, in the number 10 role, at centre-back and at right-back.
Reading later lost Matt Ritchie and Derrick Williams, both of whom retired in June. They were joined in heading out of the door by Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan, who was sold to AC Horsens in late July.
Although the Royals only had control of one of those departures, all were ultimately good for the club, with none of Ritchie, Williams or Ehibhatiomhan really fitting into how Reading want to play this season. Financially, the two retirements will have helped cut the wage bill and Reading have brought in cash for a notoriously inconsistent forward, plus a sell-on fee.
The Royals replaced all those leaving by making eight signings, effectively split into two blocks of transfer activity. Kyreece Lisbie, Udoka Godwin-Malife, Jacob Brown and Josh Stokes joined between late June and mid-July, giving them time to be part of the bulk of pre-season.
We had a while to wait for the next bunch of arrivals though, all of whom came in after the start of the season. In the last fortnight of the window, Reading finalised deals for George Earthy, Conor Masterson, Josh Knight and Jamie Reid.
Or, to put it another way, Reading bought four players, loaned two in and signed two free agents. Position-wise, the Royals bolstered the first-team squad with two new centre-backs, a right-back, a winger, two number 10s and two forwards.
Last but not least, Reading sent five young players out on loan over the course of the summer window. Goalkeepers Tom Norcott and Harrison Rhone headed to Derry City and Brackley Town respectively, on deals lasting until the end of the calendar year.
Further, striker Reece Evans and midfielder David Hicks joined Bedford Town on temporary deals that were announced as lasting until the end of August. I’ve not seen confirmation as to whether they’ve now returned to Reading though. Also, Shay Spencer headed to Slough Town until mid-October.
All of that means the squad now looks like this:
Which leads us to the most pressing question…
Do Reading now have a squad capable of competing for promotion this season?
Probably, yes. This squad isn’t perfect – I’m not sure how many League One clubs have honestly been able to say they’ve had no room for improvement in the playing staff – but it’s good, certainly, and arguably very good.
Reading have a strong amount of individual quality, youth, experience and depth across the pitch. Can we put out a starting XI that will at least be competitive against pretty much every other team in the division? Yes. Do we have enough options to change things from the bench, rotate between games and cover for injuries without a worrying drop-off? Also yes.
Just as important as how the players look individually, the squad appears to collectively suit the more positive, pacy, width-based pressing system that Richardson has been building over the last few months. We’ve got well rounded full-backs, some muscle in midfield, pace in the final third and work rate in key areas.
Richardson can’t really say he’s not been backed or not been able to build the side he wants to see on the pitch. This is his team and the onus is now on him to deliver in performances and results.
That isn’t to say this is a squad without potential weaknesses. Reading lack pace at centre-back and convincing competition for Roberts at left-back, the midfield feels somewhat precariously reliant on Wing (not the player he once was) and Rinomhota (injury prone), some of the wingers have been frustratingly inconsistent (Kyerewaa and Lane) and Marriott’s availability is a concern.
None of those are insurmountable problems – this is still a good squad. However, they’re still worth keeping an eye on and some may need to be addressed in January.
Was this the long-term ‘building window’ that Richardson wanted?
Richardson made a point when talking last season (eg in March) of differentiating between January 2026 being a short-term window and summer 2026 being a ‘building window’. More recently he’s referred a couple of times (eg before the trip to AFC Wimbledon) to how “the base fell out [of the football club]” when Sam Smith, Amadou Mbengue, Tyler Bindon and others left.
Clearly, therefore, a key aim in this window was for foundations to be laid down for the next few years, not just for a squad to be put together for 2026/27.
Side note: a key part of doing a ‘building window’ properly is to be able to plan for it ahead of time and be a stable club throughout the process. Fortunately, Reading were in a bizarre position (by this club’s standards) coming into this summer of having a settled manager and ownership ahead of time, with no behind-the-scenes chaos or transfer embargoes. In that light, I’d argue that this was our first fully normal summer transfer window since 2018. End of side note.
So, was this in practice a good ‘building window’? I’ll go through the squad position by position to assess that, but first, here’s how the overall age profile of the squad looks now.
On the chart below, Reading’s summer 2026 signings are displayed in blue, with the loanees marked by ‘+’ icons. The rest of the squad – those who were already here – are in light grey. You should be able to hover over each icon to display the player’s name.
One thing that immediately jumps out is the relative dearth of players in their 30s. Reid (32) is the only arrival to fit into that bracket, and he’s joined by established key first-team players Pereira (30), Wing and Marriott (31). Further, there’s only player under 30 whose length of contract will take them to their 31st birthday or further (O’Connor, 29, three years left).
Instead, Reading have been looking more to players in their prime or at the start of their career, and it’s great to see two youngsters signed on permanent deals. The squad overall is looking that bit younger after the summer recruitment.
Now let’s go position by position.
The goalkeeping department is a little different to others in the respect of planning for the long term. In an ideal world you want just one dependable, fully established player being picked in every league game, meaning there’s greater onus on the younger options being given minutes out on loan elsewhere.
With that in mind, Reading were already in a strong position all round, with Pereira a settled first choice, Jack Stevens an experienced back-up and a few youngsters also on the books. Matthew Rowley is effectively third choice, while Norcott and Rhone were free to head out on loan deals. Hopefully at least one of those three is able to step up into proper first-team contention in the next couple of years.
As for right-backs, Reading have rejuvenated the department nicely. Out went the ageing duo of Yiadom and Nyambe, in came Godwin-Malife (in his prime at 26), and exciting youngster Ashqar Ahmed has also stepped up. Dokes and Ahmed have been some of Reading’s more impressive players in the last couple of months and, if we can keep hold of both, we’re sorted for the long term.
If I had to quibble on something, I’m still unclear why Reading gave Abrefa a two-year deal. We know he’s injury-prone (he’s already had further problems since signing his latest contract) and he was well down the pecking order under Richardson last season. While he’s a versatile squad option, he’s already third choice and seemingly surplus to requirements.
The situation at centre-back is a little more mixed. Reading’s only additions here were short-term ones – Knight joining on loan for the season and Masterson only set to stay until January – but there’s already a long-term option in Ward. He’ll probably partner O’Connor for the foreseeable future, though depth was a required part of this summer’s shopping.
Where there’s potential for us to eventually regard this as a really good building window is in upcoming outgoing loans. Reading are now in a position to send youngsters Abraham Kanu, Boyd Beacroft and Philip Duah out in search of regular first-team game time (because of the depth higher up the pecking order), and that’ll hopefully happen before too long.
Will Knight and Masterson be here in a couple of years’ time? Probably not, but they may indirectly help the development of others on the books.
I’m not really sure how I feel about Reading’s long-term outlook at left-back. I like Roberts and he’ll hopefully be a settled first choice for a while (though his availability needs to improve), Dorsett gets an unfair amount of stick (but probably won’t significantly improve in the long run) and John Ryan is a talented prospect (whose availability also needs to improve).
It’s difficult to get a proper read on how things will shape up in this department in the long run, but I imagine it’ll depend a lot on that A word again: availability. Let’s put a question mark over this until January at least.
I’m slightly concerned about Reading’s long-term squad planning in the middle of the park, where our options now consist of: Wing (31, two years left on his deal), Rinomhota (29, one year left), Charlie Savage (23, one year left) and Liam Fraser (28, one year left). The only one I’m confident will be here next season (Wing) is a vital part of the team, but not the player he once was.
I’ll cut the club some slack though. We were probably counting on Savage leaving permanently before then reinvesting in a long-term replacement, but with (apparently) no other club coming in with a tempting-enough bid, Reading haven’t been in a position to do that.
Hopefully a youngster steps up and elbows their way into contention at some point over the next year. That’s most likely to be Spencer, although the priority right now seems to be for him to get loan experience – currently in Slough.
As for number 10s, Reading did well to bring one in on a multi-year deal (Earthy). Given that players in this position can be expensive to acquire, I’ll again cut Reading some slack for the other arrival (Stokes) ‘only’ being a loanee. There’s also a chance that we’ve got an option to sign him permanently, though that’s not been confirmed publicly either way.
Throw in some under-21s who can play as a 10 – Sackey is the obvious candidate, while Richardson also seems to be keen on Luke Howard – and Reading look well set for the long run in this department.
The same’s true out wide, where the Royals already had some younger options (Kyerewaa, Emmanuel Osho and other under-21s) but added arguably the best signing of our summer recruitment in the form of Lisbie (22). He even agreed a whopping four-year deal.
You could conceivably see him, Lane, Kyerewaa, Williams and Osho being Reading’s wide options next season too. The potential is there, but it remains to be seen how consistent they can all be over the course of 2026/27, which’ll have a big impact on what this department looks like going forwards.
Maybe I’m being too harsh, but I’m disappointed in Reading’s long-term centre-forward planning. Losing Keane, O’Mahony and eventually Ehibhatiomhan gave the Royals room to rebuild this department, but the two arrivals ended up being a 28-year-old (Brown) and 32-year-old (Reid). One experienced player is fine, but I’d have loved the other slot to go to someone closer to the profile of Earthy/Lisbie.
The club may well consider that to be Sean Patton and/or Reece Evans (why I might be being too harsh). Both are talented players so could well come good, but that doesn’t override the fact that Reading’s three most senior options up front aren’t long-term prospects with resale value – even if they’re effective in the short term.
Anything else?
A lot of people will be disappointed that Reading didn’t sign another left-back. I wasn’t completely against that, but didn’t want one who wasn’t a major improvement on our current options to be brought in for the sake of it. Dorsett’s fine as a back-up at this level, Lane and Ward can go there if needed, and Reading could always look in the free-agent or January markets if they must.
The timing of signings was also a source of heated debate over the summer, with Reading going a month and nine days between incomings four and five. For me, the club did well to effectively finalise a starting XI by early pre-season, and I was happy to be patient for the rest of the business to be done properly.
Given Couhig talked up the potential of waiting until the end of the window for new arrivals though, as talent from higher up the pyramid would become available, Reading’s late-summer approach was underwhelming.
Though the club got everything done that was necessary, I’d argue that only Earthy (a long-term talent who’s already making an impact in the first team) was worth waiting for. My issue isn’t with the individual quality of Masterson, Knight and Reid – I’m happy with all three – but I’m not convinced we couldn’t have made signings of an all-round similar quality (factoring in short-term quality, long-term potential and cost) earlier in the window.
My read on it (which I accept may well be wide of the mark) is that, having made the first four signings, Reading deliberately waited until later in the window to see which top-quality players might be available for financially good terms (which I absolutely understand), but ultimately weren’t able to get the targets in they wanted. Instead, the club likely had to go for back-up targets late on, before the window shut. After all, for example, Reid said in his first club interview that he was only aware of Reading’s interest on the weekend before the end of the transfer window.
Now, players being back-up targets (if that’s the case) doesn’t inherently make them bad signings (as I’ve just name-checked Reid as a possible example I’ll again stress that I think he’s a good signing in his own right). Plus, well run clubs should always have multiple viable, good contingencies in case some targets aren’t doable for whatever reason.
Still, I don’t think the last fortnight or so of the window went as Reading quite wanted it to. A critical problem? No. A learning experience for the next window? Yes.
Overall
I’d give this window a 7/10: Reading did everything they needed to do to put together a squad capable of competing for the top six this season and there are some exciting young additions in there who’ll hopefully develop nicely over the next few years.
At this stage in time I’d have liked more signings in the Lisbie/Earthy/Ward mould to get that grade higher. That said, I’m intrigued to see how well the more experienced League One-proven players get on, and depending on how well Richardson uses his squad, there’s certainly potential for this summer’s recruitment to age well.
