Exclusive: Reading FC backed to seal "brilliant" Matt Ritchie transfer | OneFootball

FLW have spoken to Sky Sports Pundit Don Goodman about rumours linking Matt Ritchie to Reading, and he feels the Royals could really benefit from him.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman has shared his enthusiasm over rumours linking veteran former Portsmouth winger Matt Ritchie with a move to Reading.

Reading started their League One season with a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Lincoln City last weekend, a result which hinted that manager Noel Hunt still has work to do on his first-team squad if the Royals are to match their performance last season, when they finished 7th in League One despite chaos behind the scenes at the club for much of it.

Reading have been under the ownership of Rob Couhig since May, though, and those days of chaos are at an end, so the club will be hoping to push on this season. The Royals are now being linked with former Bournemouth and Newcastle United winger Matt Ritchie, who is looking for a new club after being released by Portsmouth after spending the 2024-25 season with the club.

Goodman on Matt Ritchie to Reading: "I feel he'd be a brilliant addition"

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman has expressed his admiration for Ritchie's lengthy playing career: "What a stellar career Matt Ritchie has had. He's 36 next month, but he did really well for Portsmouth last year, and I suspect it was off the pitch as well as on the pitch.

Goodman has suggested that Ritchie's experience is exactly what Reading need this season: "I think that's where he can help Reading out. In general terms they're a very young group. With all that experience, leadership and know-how, I feel he'd be a brilliant addition."

And the Sky Sports man has fond recollections of the start of Ritchie's lengthy playing career. "It seems like only yesterday that I was seeing him break through at Swindon, bursting on the scene and earning his move to Bournemouth, and then to Newcastle", he told us, "But it's been a brilliant career and Reading could do a lot worse than signing him."

Ritchie has huge experience, and Reading have a very young first-team squad for 2025-26

Matt Ritchie's return to Fratton Park took him back to the club at which he started his career, but his season with Portsmouth wasn't especially successful, with the team only able to get to 16th place in the Championship.

Ritchie has been informed that he doesn't fit into the Portsmouth manager John Mousinho's plans for the new season and has been released by the club, and Reading, who only narrowly missed out on a League One play-off place last season, could be an ideal destination for him.

They certainly have a young squad, with only six of the 27 players in their current first-team squad being over the age of 25. The team showed their inexperience at Sincil Bank on the opening weekend of the season, with a first-half own goal putting Lincoln on the path to a comfortable win.

What Don Goodman reveals from his comments on this potential move is that the importance of some players comes down to more than what they can offer on the pitch alone. Ritchie's experience could be just as important on the training ground or in the changing room as on the pitch. With Reading having such a young group of players, his addition could really bring something extra to the Royals as they embark on their new season.