Stoke City ruled out of race for in-demand Reading FC player | OneFootball

Stoke City will not be bringing in Andy Rinomhota this summer despite initially being linked, as reported by Stoke On Trent Live.

There has been some mounting interest in the player in recent days according to reports, with several Championship sides all weighing up potential moves for the Reading man this offseason.

However, with Bristol City rubbishing reports of their interest, Stoke City have now done similar and are seemingly out of the race to sign the 25-year-old during the transfer window.

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It clears the way for Cardiff and QPR to seemingly try and get a deal sorted for the midfielder, with the Potters clearly not interested in a move for the player themselves.

Rinomhota has had to make do with being more of a squad rotation option over the last few seasons too, with the 25-year-old managing just 19 starts in the Championship in the last campaign. With the side struggling against relegation, he wasn’t turned to that often.

Prior to that, he had been a first-team regular and managed nearly a full quota of second tier outings for the Royals back in 2020/21. With 125 Championship games to his name in total over the course of his career, he is certainly experienced in the division already too – and now the Bluebirds and the Hoops look set to battle it out for his signature.

Stoke though will seemingly look elsewhere for another midfield option, with Rinomhota’s name not on their target list. There is plenty of time for the club to do so too, with the transfer window having only just opened its doors.

Andy Rinomhota has been solid as an option for Reading in the middle of the field over the last few campaigns but couldn’t quite get onto the field as much as he would have wanted last season.

With the Royals struggling financially, even if they plan to get the midfielder out and in their team more next season, they may be resigned to selling him on and losing him anyway. Cardiff and QPR both look ready to make moves even if Stoke don’t and a deal could still happen.

Stoke though quite clearly don’t want to be involved in a transfer battle for the 25-year-old – and although he would clearly be a very good option if he did sign, they clearly have their eyes on another player to replace Joe Allen instead.

The Potters don’t have a limitless budget themselves so an option will likely have to be relatively cheap and come in a shrewd deal – and whilst Rinomhota would fit that bill, they clearly don’t see it as a proper fit for the club.