"Throwing money and hoping it worked" - Claim made on record Reading FC transfers | OneFootball

FLW's Reading fan pundit discussed whether the club's record signings were good value for money

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Our Reading fan pundit believes the club's poor business in the transfer market previously summed up the state of the club in recent years, and their willingness to throw money at players showed that their hierarchy lacked a plan.

Reading signed Sone Aluko for a reported fee of £7.5million in 2017, while they spent another £7.5million on George Puscas, with added bonuses if they had won promotion to the Premier League back in 2019, according to The Sun.

This makes the duo the club's most expensive signings in history, and it's fair to say that they didn't live up to their very hefty price-tags.

As we all know, Reading have had huge financial issues in recent years, and part of that could well be down to reckless spending on substandard players in the past.

We asked our Reading fan pundit, Johnny Hunt, whether he believed his club's record transfer fee proved value for money, and he certainly didn't think that either Aluko or Puscas lived up to their price-tags.

Johnny told Football League World: "It depends on which one you read. I think George Puscas was slightly more expensive than Sone Aluko, depending on where you read, but to be honest, one was untried and untested while the other was overrated.

"Either way, it just shows you what a disaster Reading Football Club have been over the last number of years, throwing money at players who really didn’t do a great deal for the club.

“Aluko was part of an awful team and didn’t really get going, while Puscas looked brilliant on his debut, scored two goals and should have got a hat-trick, but apart from a five-minute hat-trick against Wigan, he really struggled.

“It’s just a sign of where the club was at, throwing money and hoping it worked rather than having a plan.

“Aluko went on to Ipswich and did okay there, he probably had his best spell under Paunovic at Reading for a few games but not worth the value, and Puscas is currently languishing somewhere in Italy, so those were our wonderful signings.

“Bring back the old days of free transfers. Sam Smith does the job much better!"

Signing Sone Aluko and George Puscas proved a huge waste of money

It speaks volumes that Aluko and Puscas signed for Reading for a combined fee of around £15million, yet they recouped just €4million, according to Wokingham Today.

Aluko departed on a free transfer in 2021, joining Ipswich, while Puscas joined Genoa in 2023 for a fee believed to be €4million, which just shows how much money the Royals lost on their record signings.

Neither player particularly impressed on the pitch either, and were unable to show what they were capable of on a consistent basis to warrant the transfer fees that had been paid for them.

Reading have suffered multiple points deductions in recent seasons under the ownership of Dai Yongge, and it ultimately cost them their Championship status in 2023, but had they been shrewder in the transfer market, perhaps they would never have got to that point.

The Royals threw money at players like Aluko and Puscas in a bid to win promotion to the Premier League, but failure to reach the top-flight meant the club were living beyond their means and, subsequently, have suffered catastrophic consequences.

There have certainly been worse players to pull on a Reading shirt than Aluko and Puscas, but given the money that was spent on them, they won't be remembered too fondly at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.