Rarely-seen Reading FC player will surely seek SCL exit this summer: View | OneFootball

Reading FC look all but safe in League One after a turbulent campaign with plenty of points deductions hindering them all season long.

Spanish manager Ruben Selles took charge in the summer after leaving Southampton, and he has had to deal with a lot behind the scenes, with the club having a lot of financial issues.

Owner of the club and Chinese businessman Dai Yongge has failed to pay HMRC on numerous occasions which has led to the club receiving points deductions, with Selles’ players having six points deducted from their efforts this season.

Nevertheless, Selles has managed to galvanise one of the youngest, inexperienced teams in the division to near safety, and that could even be confirmed this weekend. The Royals are currently nine points clear of the relegation zone with three games left to play.

Whilst having such a young team, you would expect the older players they do have to be involved, but for the most part that has not been the case, with the likes of Sam Hutchinson shunned to the side.

Another one of the older heads in the squad to have barely played is Harlee Dean, and he may look to depart in the summer if that does not change.

Harlee Dean arrived with plenty of pedigree

Dean had made the move to the Select Car Leasing Stadium after leaving Championship side Birmingham City at the end of his contract, signing a deal until 2025.

He had spent the last six seasons at St Andrew’s playing regularly in the Championship, apart from half of the 21/22 season where he was in League One with Sheffield Wednesday.

The 32-year-old had also spent five years at Brentford, where he gained experience of achieving promotion from League One to the Championship in 2014.

On paper, signing a player who had spent the majority of the last few seasons in the division above, and who also has experience getting promoted out of League One, it looked a shrewd addition.

Harlee Dean’s time at Reading has not gone to plan, and surely a summer exit beckons

Dean’s time in Berkshire has gone very poorly.

He started the season playing regularly whilst the team were near the very bottom of the league, playing the full 90 minutes in every league match in October.

Dean became very unpopular with the fanbase following a late defeat to Leyton Orient, in which he had an interaction with the fans after the full-time whistle.

Since October though, Dean has only played 21 minutes of League One football, failing to break into the team with Tyler Bindon and Amadou Mbengue excelling at centre-back in recent months.

With that in mind, Dean will surely want to depart Reading in order to play more football. Dean is seemingly surplus to requirements at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, and with the club low on money, they would more than likely also like to sell him to gain some funds.

Either way though, Dean’s time at Reading has not gone as well as anyone expected - and a departure surely beckons for the centre-back in the summer.