It has been a hectic summer for all concerned with Reading Football Club, with the Royals getting off to a mixed start in the 2019/20 Sky Bet Championship campaign.

The Royals avoided relegation to League One at a canter under Jose Gomes last term, though it looked as if the Berkshire club could be headed the same way after being placed under a soft transfer embargo at the start of the summer.

But the club then sprung into life when making a host of summer signings, bringing in the likes of George Puscas, Lucas Joao and Ovie Ejaria from Inter Milan, Sheffield Wednesday and Liverpool respectively.

Gomes' side currently occupy 16th spot in the league table after losing three of their opening six league matches, with the summer transfer window officially coming to an end on Monday afternoon.

After bringing 11 new faces over the course of the summer, the Royals balanced the books towards the latter stages of the window, saying goodbye Andrija Novakovich who joined Frosinone, as well as Tom Holmes who moved on loan to Roeselare.

But despite plenty of youngsters completing either loan or permament moves away from the Madejski Stadium, the frustrating thing for Royals fans will be seeing the likes of Chris Gunter and Garath McCleary still on the club's books.

The latter looked destined to leave Reading in the summer, with the winger failing to make an appearance under Gomes in April after being frozen out at the Madejski.

The 32-year-old has made over 230 appearances for the Berkshire club, but is now completely out of favour at Reading and was even seen with Gunter partying at the Reading Festival on the same day as their away clash with Huddersfield.

Gunter, meanwhile, is yet to feature for the Royals this term after losing his place at right-back to Andy Yiadom, and is another senior player who Reading fans would have liked to see depart during the transfer window.

The 30-year-old's contract runs out at the end of the campaign, therefore Royals fans may have been looking to see the club capture a fee for his services, rather than paying his wages and letting him leave on a free come the end of the season.

Both Gunter and McCleary are two experienced, established professionals who are likely to be earning a decent amount of money due to their previous worth to Reading.

But under Gomes, the pair don't look like they will get a look-in, and it looks as if they could be rotting on the bench or in the stands until the January transfer window comes along.

If the Royals can assemble a push for the play-offs between now and the New Year, then Gomes will undoubtedly be looking to bolster his squad with new faces, and getting the likes of Gunter and McCleary off the wage bill this summer could have been beneficial.