Reading are likely to be missing centre-back Liam Moore at the start of the 2022/23 campaign as he looks to make a recovery from a knee injury, according to Berkshire Live.

The Jamaican returned to the Select Car Leasing Stadium following the expiration of his loan spell at Stoke City, joining the Potters in January after being stripped of the captaincy and publicly criticised by the Royals in a club statement earlier that month.

In this statement, it had been revealed that the defender had been seeking a move away from Berkshire for the second time since his arrival at the club, first handing in a transfer request in 2018.

 

 

With this, it was expected that he would be made available for a transfer away and as a potential high earner at the club, his departure early on this summer may have made plenty of room for other players to arrive with Paul Ince's side restricted in what they can do this summer.

This is because they have been forced to abide by an EFL business plan following their breach of financial rules, with this plan setting a cap on their wage bill and this has made offloading Moore even more important for the Royals.

However, it looks as though there's no chance of this happening during the early stages of this summer window unless they come to a mutual agreement on terminating his contract.

The Verdict:

This is a massive blow for the second-tier outfit - because there's no real chance of terminating his contract unless they fork out a considerable amount of money and this is something they can't afford to do in their current situation.

Getting him out early would have been crucial because it may have allowed the Berkshire outfit to bring in an extra two or three players - new arrivals that could have ended up making all the difference in their quest to remain afloat in the division again next term.

This also leaves the Royals with one less centre-back option and considering they already have a severe lack of depth in most areas as it is, they would have been hoping to have the centre-back area lower down their priority list with the other options they have available.

Luckily, Tom McIntyre, Tom Holmes, Scott Dann and Jeriel Dorsett can all step in but they ideally need a quicker option at the back, especially if they want to operate with a back three.

As mentioned, there's also a need to focus on other areas though including their central midfield, full-back area and forward department, so the fact they may need to bring in another option at centre-back is a pain, especially as they try to work within a limited budget.