Man Utd complete move to sign Reading FC forward | OneFootball

Premier League giants Manchester United have wrapped up a deal to sign Reading forward Camron Mpofu, according to the Daily Mail.

The Scotland youth international isn't a player who is known by many Royals fans, with the player still in the early stages of his development.

But the Berkshire side have lost a number of players that they haven't heard that much about in recent years, with Luca Fletcher moving to Manchester City and Thierry Rohart-Brown securing a switch to Southampton.

Two more promising youngsters, Taylan Harris and Caylan Vickers, have also departed in the past year.

Harris scored on his professional debut in a 9-0 win at Exeter City - and Vickers made a decent number of appearances during the first half of the 2023/24 season before he was sold to Brighton and Hove Albion.

Losing talented young players is the last thing that the Berkshire side will want to do, especially with the Royals potentially needing some of their academy stars to feature in the first team next season.

Some of their youngsters looked extremely promising against Sunderland's U21 team, including John Ryan, Jack Senga and Basil Tuma.

Keeping hold of those players should be a priority for the Berkshire side, potentially over retaining those who are younger, with the Royals' short-term future needing to come first in their current situation.

Manchester United sign Camron Mpofu

The Royals and United struck an agreement last year for Charlie Savage, with the Wales international making the permanent move to the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Now it's the Red Devils' turn to poach a promising youngster, with forward Mpofu being recruited from the Berkshire outfit.

It's unclear whether Erik ten Hag will remain at United for too much longer, but in the short term, that doesn't really matter.

Considering he didn't make a single senior appearance for Ruben Selles' side, the chances of Mpofu being involved in the first team at Old Trafford appear to be very slim at this stage.

The Scotsman will be able to join United in time for next season.

Losing Camron Mpofu may not have come as a major surprise to Reading FC

The Royals have lost a number of youngsters in the past, as stated above.

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens is one player who was poached from the Royals, with the winger opting to sign for Manchester City.

He has since gone on to appear for Borussia Dortmund and England's U21 team. He's definitely one who got away and the Royals will still be ruing the fact they lost him.

However, there have been some successful players who have graduated from the Royals' academy and have either played a huge part in their success and/or have been sold on for a high amount.

The likes of Danny Loader and Omar Richards have done fairly well for themselves, but Michael Olise is probably their most successful academy graduate and one who has the highest ceiling of them all.

You win some, you lose some, and the Royals may come to regret losing Mpofu. But it remains to be seen what he achieves during his career.