Tuesday night was a disappointing one for Reading, losing 2-0 at Championship side Wrexham and going out of the League Cup, but it also brought a landmark achievement for the club. By being named in the starting
XI, Andre Garcia became the first player ever to make 50 first-team appearances for the Royals before turning 18.
Many thanks to Nigel Meek, who’s provided the full data on this, which shows Garcia’s half-century comes from 38 starts and 12 substitute appearances in all competitions. The bulk of those games (43/50) came in an impressive 2024/25 breakout season: 38 games in League One, three in the EFL Trophy and one a piece in the FA Cup and League Cup.
He’s played another four times in the league and three times in the League Cup in 2025/26, scoring once in each competition. The first of those goals, a strike against Portsmouth in August, made him the 34rd academy graduate to find the net for the club.
Garcia has around two months to add to his tally, turning 18 at the end of November. Unfortunately he was forced off injured in the first half against Wrexham, but hopefully he’ll be back in action before long.
The closest challenger to Garcia is Neil Webb, who made his debut for Reading at 16 years old in 1980. He played 35 times (26 starts, nine substitute appearances) for the Royals before turning 18, scoring seven times. Current squad member Ashqar Ahmed, who turned 18 in August, is in third place.
Garcia is also the highest appearance-maker for Reading before the age of 17, again with Webb the closest challenger.
However, when looking at appearances made by under-19s, Webb comes out on top (81), well ahead of Garcia (50). Webb also has an impressive goal record in this stage of his career, netting 22 times. Michael Olise, who recently came 30th in the Ballon d’Or voting, is a close third appearance-wise.
There’s still time for Garcia to catch up with Webb on this statistic by getting another 31 appearances to draw level – around 14 months in fact. On paper that’s more than enough, but it’s subject to how long Garcia will miss after Tuesday’s injury, as well as any transfer interest from higher up the pyramid.
Interestingly, director of recruitment Brian Carey said earlier this month that Garcia has had a sizeable growth spurt, meaning the youngster’s minutes will need to be managed. That would partially explain Garcia’s reduced involvement this season, not playing in five of Reading’s 12 matches in all competitions, and getting 314 minutes across the other seven (an average of around 45 minutes per game) – although that was of course affected by Garcia having to be substituted on Tuesday.
