Championship club Reading are set to receive a deduction of up to nine points after breaching the EFL's profit and sustainability rules this summer, according to The Telegraph.

The Royals major overspent during the summer of 2017 and 2019 in their desperation to get back to the Premier League after narrowly missing out on promotion to Huddersfield Town in the 2017 Championship play-off final.

Since that Wembley defeat, the Berkshire outfit have broken their transfer record twice, recruiting Fulham's Sone Aluko before going on to spend even more on Inter Milan's George Puscas in the summer of 2019.

That summer, the Royals were placed under a soft transfer embargo by the EFL, before the rules were relaxed later on in the summer, allowing them to spend seven-figure fees on Sheffield Wednesday Lucas Joao and Romanian international George Puscas.

Although they spent more cautiously last summer, the second-tier side were under strict transfer restrictions for much of the previous transfer window, not being able to spend any money on transfer fees, bringing in three loan players and three free agents as they bolstered their squad for the 2021/22 campaign.

As per The Telegraph's John Percy, they could now receive a points deduction of up to nine points after losing £93m in their last three sets of financial accounts and are now in discussions with the EFL over the severity of this upcoming punishment, with an agreement close to being finalised and a 'future business plan' also needed to be agreed for the sustainability of the club.

The Verdict:

Well, it only seemed like a matter of time before Reading received a bigger punishment after being placed under financial restrictions.

The fact they were able to make quite a few signings also foreshadowed this potential deduction, because not allowing the Championship side to sign any players with their severe lack of squad depth would have been a major punishment and may have relegated them on the spot with their current injuries.

After a slow start to the campaign, the Royals have won seven points from a possible nine following the international break which could potentially end up saving them from relegation if the EFL go ahead with a nine-point deduction.

Can Reading fans have any real complaints though about this potential punishment? Probably not considering other clubs including Birmingham City and Sheffield Wednesday have been sanctioned like this in the past.

And the Royals haven't just broken profit and sustainability rules by just a few million - this £93m loss is an unbelievable amount of money and the responsibility has to lie at owner Dai Yongge's door for this.

The Berkshire side will just be hoping this won't have a detrimental psychological effect on the players like it did to Sheffield Wednesday last term. The one saving grace is the fact they already have points on the board, something the Owls didn't have last term before their deduction.