Reading have one of the best academy's in the Football League.

For countless years the Royals have had their squad made up of a large percentage academy products, which is a large reassurance for the fans, as it means if the club get into any sort of financial trouble, they have a brilliant set of academy products to fall back on.

As well as taking in players from a young age and developing them, the Royals have also picked up players in their late teens and developed them further, such as the likes of Shane Long and Kevin Doyle, who both joined Reading at a very young age and look set to go to the Euros.

This is something of great pride to the club. There is currently a fabulous young crop coming through at the moment, who won the Youth Cup a couple of years ago, including Tariqe Fosu, Jack Stacey and the latest young superstar Josh Barrett.

Here are Reading's FIVE best academy products.......

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PRESS THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE THE 5 ACADEMY PRODUCTS!

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Conor Wickham

Wickham has been pretty good for Crystal Palace despite a pretty bloated fee of £12 million paid to bring him to the club over the summer, scoring five league goals and one in the FA Cup semi finals against Watford.

He had four years in the Reading academy before joining the Ipswich academy in 2006. He made his debut at the club in April 2009, aged just 16, before joining Sunderland for £8 million in 2011.

Perhaps not Reading's most infamous academy product, but a successful one none the less.

 

Charlie Austin

*Sigh* if only we hadn't deemed Charlie Austin too short... What could've been... The now Southampton man is a rapid goalscorer and has grabbed goals wherever he's been, despite his lack of opportunity at Reading.

He's one of many former Reading academy men to go on to play for arch rivals Swindon, where he went on to score 31 goals, earning himself a move to Burnley.

Since then, he's gone from strength to strength and established himself as a Premier League goalscorer, despite relegation with QPR, he got a call up to the England squad, but never won himself a cap. Hopefully he'll get his fitness back together and start scoring for the Saints once more.

 

Alex McCarthy

Finally someone who actually went on to play for Reading! McCarthy is an excellent goalkeeper who made a name for himself in 2012/13 after replacing Adam Federici as the clubs number one goalkeeper.

He produced a staggering display against Liverpool to earn the side a 0-0 draw, shutting out the likes of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge single handedly, attracting the eyes of Juventus, Liverpool themselves and QPR.

He's now at Crystal Palace and despite a strong start as their number one, he's slipped down the pecking order, and nearly moved on loan to Fulham. He's been linked with a move back to Reading this summer.

 

Jem Karacan

Who doesn't love Jem Karacan? What a simply wonderful bloke. However, also a dreadfully unlucky bloke.

In 2012, during a 2-0 win against Leeds as Reading made their way to promotion, he suffered a broken ankle after a challenge from Michael Brown. After relegation from the Premier League, in his next appearance against Leeds, he ruptured his anterior cruciate and medial ligaments.

This kept him out for over a year, and after making his comeback as a substitute against Middlesbrough, received another set back and was out for another two months.

When offered a dream move to Galatasaray, he took his chance when his contract expired last year.

 

Gylfi Sigurdsson

I'm not making an overstatement when I say Gylfi Sigurdsson is the pride and joy of Reading, whilst also being our best academy product in the modern era.

Currently dragging Swansea up the table single handedly, Sigurdsson moved to Reading from Iceland in 2005. He spent five years at the club before moving to Germany with Hoffenheim.

He was so, so, so good in a Reading shirt, words cannot convey. He made 42 appearances for Reading whilst scoring 19 goals for the club. We still admire him ever so dearly, and I still love watching him play for Swansea.

Reading fans... What do you make of this news? Are these your best academy products? Are there better? Let us know in the comments below!