Reading midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah, on loan from Chelsea, says he's prepared to play in any position for the Royals.

chalobah
Chalobah is willing to play anywhere

Chalobah joined Reading on loan from Chelsea in January as Steve Clarke's second signing in charge of the club, after a somewhat unsuccessful loan spell at Premier League side Burnley.

He was deployed as a centre back in the defeat to Wigan Athletic earlier this year after an injury to Michael Hector and played at left back in the win over Brighton last week, as Steve Clarke decided to rest Jordan Obita for the FA Cup tie against Bradford City.

The 20-year-old says that his time in the Chelsea academy helped him to become a more versatile player.

He told Get Reading: "When I was younger after I had my growth spurt at Chelsea, they try and get you playing everywhere.

"The philosophy at the club is if you’re good enough to play anywhere then either way it’s a benefit for you.

"When you're younger sometimes you want to play up front, but the manager tells you to go and play at centre-back and you start chewing and get really angry because you don’t really want to play there.

"But at the academy they’ve taught us to try and master every single position."

Chalobah was outstanding in Reading's 3-0 FA Cup quarter final win over Bradford City on Monday night.

Hal Robson-Kanu scored the first goal with an emphatic header from a Garath McCleary corner, who then doubled the lead after nine minutes with a looping shot that took a wild deflection off of Andy Halliday.

After Filipe Morais was sent off, Jamie Mackie completed the rout. He met Chalobah's through ball and fired in the third goal.

Currently eighteenth in the Sky Bet Championship with a game in hand, Reading have amassed 44 points thus far this season.