Reading FC hit the jackpot with £78k bargain signing - Is it the club's best ever? | OneFootball

The Royals' signing of Kevin Doyle was a very memorable one - but an academy addition may go down as their best ever signing.

Reading needed to bounce back following a disappointing end to the 2004/05 season - and they made a real statement when they broke their transfer record to sign Leroy Lita.

After missing out on the play-offs at the end of the previous term, the Royals needed more quality in their squad to give themselves the best chance of being promoted to the Premier League for the very first time.

Lita was signed for a club-record £1m fee from Bristol City - and he looked set to be the Berkshire side's most important addition of the 2005 summer window.

But they also made some other important signings who would go on to make valuable contributions.

Brynjar Gunnarsson was a versatile option who proved to be a very shrewd addition from Watford - and Stephen Hunt went on to appear in the Premier League after he departed the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Their two most obscure signings during the window were Kevin Doyle and Shane Long, with the pair making the move from Cork City for a nominal sum.

Long was able to make an impact during the 2005/06 season, but it took him a while to start regularly and fulfil his potential, with others ahead of him in the pecking order for the first few years of his stay in Berkshire.

Doyle, who was signed for a reported £78,000, was one of the strikers who was ahead of Long in the pecking order due to the fact he made an immediate impact.

Kevin Doyle will go down as one of Reading FC's best-ever signings

It didn't take Doyle too long to make an impact after his arrival from Cork, scoring his debut goal for the Royals against Burnley in August 2005.

That proved to be a winning goal - and it was one of many attacking contributions from the Irishman during the club's record-breaking 106-point 2005/06 season.

Scoring 19 goals in all competitions during that campaign, with 18 of these coming in the league, there's no doubt that his contributions made the pursuit of 106 points possible.

Adapting incredibly well to English football, he was also able to make the step up to the top flight seamlessly and the fact he was able to get into double figures at the top level was impressive.

One of his most memorable goals came fairly early on in the 2006/07 season, with his penalty against Manchester United putting the Berkshire side 1-0 up against one of the best sides in the world.

He also scored a brace on New Year's Day against West Ham United on New Year's Day in 2007, in a thumping 6-0 win.

Some of his other goals during that campaign were more important though, because they often decided games, and those contributions allowed the Royals to secure an eighth-place finish in the top flight at the end of 2006/07.

They were relegated at the end of the following campaign, which was a shame, but Doyle did score in a memorable win against Liverpool during 2007/08, and he was a real asset back in the second tier during the 2008/09 campaign.

Scoring 18 times in 42 competitive appearances during his last season at the club, he can count himself unlucky not to have been part of another promotion-winning team.

Unfortunately, he missed the play-off semi-final second leg against Burnley and that was a real blow, with the Clarets going through to the final.

We will never know if Doyle could have made a difference in that game, but he had the potential to.

He moved on to Wolverhampton Wanderers during the summer of 2009 - and that was a heartbreaker for Reading fans who adored him.

For his on-field contributions, he can be classed as one of the Berkshire side's best-ever signings, but another ex-Royal may have been the club's best addition of all time, for a couple of different reasons.

Michael Olise may end up being Reading FC's best signing due to his off-field impact

He may not have been retained by Chelsea or Manchester City, but the Royals spotted Michael Olise's talent and decided to snap him up during the summer of 2018, when he was just 16.

Olise made his first-team debut less than a year after that against Leeds United - and he went on to shine during his time in the senior squad at the SCL Stadium.

Even though Veljko Paunovic managed his game time, the Frenchman was able to take his game to a new level during the 2020/21 campaign, his final season in Berkshire.

Registering seven goals and 12 assists in 44 league appearances, he did enough during that season to attract Crystal Palace's interest, and they activated his £8m release clause to bring him to Selhurst Park.

Thriving there during his three years in the English capital, he made the £50.8m move to Bayern Munich during the summer window, and has pretty much established himself as the best ever player to have represented the Royals.

The Berkshire side may not have seen him at his best during his time at the SCL Stadium, but he is going on to achieve more than any other ex-Royal has.

And the money the Royals are going to receive because of their Olise sell-on clause could end up saving the club, after Rob Couhig's deal to purchase the League One side collapsed.

With this off-field impact in mind, the Frenchman probably goes down as their best-ever addition, even if he was an academy addition and not a first-team signing.