Paul Ince makes Reading FC transfer admission ahead of January window | OneFootball

Reading manager Paul Ince has admitted that the Royals are unlikely to be busy during the January transfer window, speaking to the Reading Chronicle.

The Royals are still under a transfer embargo at this stage because of the agreed business plan they need to adhere to – a plan that means they are restricted to recruiting free agents and loan players only next month.

However, the Berkshire outfit have already recruited five loanees with Joe Lumley, Tyrese Fornah, Jeff Hendrick, Mamadou Loum and Baba Rahman all arriving on temporary deals during the previous window.

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Ince is only allowed to have five loan players in a matchday squad and with all five establishing themselves as key players at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, the former England international may be reluctant to use this market again.

And in terms of free agents, they will be limited in terms of who they can bring in with many of those out of contract at the end of last season already being snapped up by other clubs.

Not only do these factors present Mark Bowen and Ince with a real challenge to bring suitable options in – but also the fact they are only allowed to have 25 players in their squad at this point – with the Royals having no spots left to fill.

And this is one of the main reasons why it looks set to be a quiet winter window in Berkshire.

That’s according to Ince, who said: “It is not like other clubs where they can look and think, okay we can try and bring in a couple of fresh faces here, we won’t have that freedom.

“We have 25. But we have still got to look and say if, maybe, if this happens, maybe one or two could come in, but I don’t see too much happening in January, only because we are not allowed to.”

The Verdict:

Getting Andy Carroll and Amadou Mbengue tied down to new deals will be important, with the former proving to be a reasonably useful option in attack.

A new contract for the latter could be even more important though – because the defender has been a real asset for the Royals since coming in and could potentially generate the club a decent amount of money in the future if they can tie him down to fresh terms.

If they had the opportunity to bring in more players, their midfield is probably an area they would look to strengthen, because Hendrick hasn’t been brilliant this season and Loum has been poor at times as well.

Not only would they have benefitted from strengthening there – but also their advanced midfield area with Ovie Ejaria failing to shine over the past 18 months. If he can improve his form, he could be an excellent backup option to Tom Ince.

And they may need to rely on him unless they can bring others in. For that to happen, they would need to move someone on and Liam Moore could potentially be that man, though he hasn’t been able to put himself in the shop window in recent months.