After such a turbulent campaign last season, Reading fans will be hoping the Royals will find some much needed stability under the stewardship of Portuguese manager Jose Gomes - something that was found wanting for much of last season as they finished an extremely disappointing 20th place in the Championship table. 

Having only arrived in late December last season, Gomes has worked wonders to not only stave off the threat of relegation to League One but to also restructure a squad which was lacking a lot of creativity within its ranks.

The bold additions made this summer should increase the likelihood of Reading fans being able to look at the higher echelons of the league table this term, with one man in particular capturing the attentions of many in what came as one of the most unexpected deals of the window.

A week into August, it was announced that Reading had secured the services of the talented Romanian forward George Puscas from Italian giants Inter Milan for a fee believed to be in the region of £7.2 million pounds on a five-year contract.

This was a player who lit up this summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championships in Italy for his country as they got to the semi-finals of the competition, with the 23-year-old contributing four goals, one assist, averaging a goal every 87 minutes.

Seen by many as one of the best pieces of business conducted in the Championship this season, Puscas will provide the Royals with a player that can link up the play between the midfield and forward line with clever flicks and short passes, as well as possessing great ball carrying ability, which will help to aid his team on the counter attack, and is subsequently one of Reading's main attacking principles.

The Romanian should complement the qualities of fellow front man Lucas Joao in attack, with Puscas displaying his ability to drift into wide areas and create goal scoring opportunities in the recent win against Cardiff City as he set off on a mazy run from the right hand side to score a lovely left footed effort past helpless Bluebirds keeper Alex Smithies.

It is clear from Reading's first few games that Gomes has given Puscas free-roam to drift into areas which cause the opposition defence to become disjointed, as was shown in the two-nil victory away at Huddersfield as Puscas helped to create space for Ovie Ejaria to score by making a clever decoy run into space behind the opposition defence.

If his performances at the European Championships are anything to go by, George Puscas will be the catalyst for any kind of promotion charge for the Royals this season.