Crystal Palace, Watford and Brighton and Hove Albion are all believed to be interested in a deal to sign Reading winger Yakou Meite according to The Telegraph's Mike McGrath.

It is claimed that the winger is valued in the region of £5million, although it remains to be seen as to whether Reading are willing to move him on anytime soon.

Meite has been with the Berkshire-based side since 2016, having previously been on the books with French giants PSG as a youngster.

The Ivorian international has caught the eye with a number of impressive performances for Reading over the years, and netted 13 goals in the 2018/19 season for the Royals.

He then followed that up with 17 goals in 45 appearances for Reading in the 2019/20 season, as they finished 14th in the Championship table.

Meite has found regular minutes hard to come by in this year's campaign, with the 25-year-old struggling with injuries at times this term. He has still scored 11 goals in 25 appearances though, which doesn't make for the worst of reading by any stretch of the imagination.

He started their most recent match against Huddersfield Town, as the Royals drew 2-2 with the Terriers on the final day of the season at the Madejski Stadium.

Reading had been in the top-six of the Championship table for the majority of this year's campaign, but a poor run of results in the last few months saw them miss out on a chance to win promotion into the Premier League via the play-offs.

It's set to be an interesting summer ahead at the Madejski Stadium, as Veljko Paunovic could be looking to move some players on to free up the wage bill moving into the new league campaign later this year.

It appears as though Meite's strong performances haven't gone unnoticed as well, with the winger attracting interest from Crystal Palace, Brighton and Hove Albion and Watford, who will all be playing Premier League football next season, which could make a move elsewhere tempting for Meite.

 

 

The Verdict: 

He's a player that I think is more than capable of making the step up to the Premier League.

Meite is still somewhat of a raw talent, as he's been a bit 'hit or miss' at times during this year's league campaign, although you could cut him some slack due to his injury problems.

But he's still scoring over ten goals on a consistent basis in the Championship, and given that he can play either out wide, or as a central striker, it's not surprising to see that he has other clubs keen on a deal to land his signature.

I think he'd be a good fit for any of the teams interested in landing his signature, but he'll be wanting regular minutes in the top-flight, otherwise he might be better off stay with Reading for one more season to see if they can win promotion into the Premier League themselves.