CONFIMRED: Orlando Sa to Maccabi Tel Aviv

[John Smith]

Hope he's not planning to get rid of Quinn - best player at the club IMHO. Wonder why he has such an instant lack of interest in Sa?

No mate, Danny Williams is the best player at the club

[Gandalf Presley]

Let him go. Clearly apparent he has led a nomadic career path so we are one of many clubs who have decided to discard. Only positives comes from a hat trick against Ipswich.

[Top Flight]

This situation seems very bizarre to me....

Orlando Sa was a permanent signing of the club. He is our player. Vydra and Piazon are on loan and will be with us just for a few more months.

McDermott says he is looking for a number ten to play alongside his quick striker Vydra. Well, HELLOOOOO.... Who is the number 10? Orlando is the number fricking ten.... How is 34 year old Kermorgant a better option as number ten than Orlando? I don't really get it. Orlando has done pretty well in the games he has played. He could be the perfect partner for Vydra. I thought McDermott liked a Kitson/Doyle type partnership. Wouldn't Orland/Vydra be similar to that?

The whole situation seems weird to me. I would like to know just what it is that McDermott doesn't like about Orlando.

[Nameless]

Maybe it's not Brian looking to move Sa on, but Sa wanting to go.
Players/agents usually benefit financially by moving clubs....
Who knows .....

[LWJ]

Disappointing really. Rated him

[Uke]

Wouldn't surprise me at all if there are issues behind the scenes. I remember when we signed him Archie's penalty gave an account of his time in Poland, which as i recall gave the impression that if he wasn't starting games then we could have a problem on our hands.

http://www.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... 7#p4193030

My two cents on Sa on the Tilehurst End (I watch a lot of Polish football for my sins) http://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/201 ... reading-fc

Portuguese striker Orlando Sá looks set to sign for Reading from Legia Warsaw for a fee which is rumoured to be € 1.5 million. For a club like Reading who are desperate for any kind of transfer activity, the transfer has been met with a mixture of relief and excitement as finally the club seem to be preparing for the upcoming season. But who is Orlando Sá and is this transfer the right fit for Reading FC?

Sá's career is in many ways one of unfulfilled promise. Starting out at Braga the player made his mark in the Portuguese under-21s with a couple of hat-tricks before moving on to Porto for a fee of 3 million Euros in 2009. Injuries meant Sá was never really able to achieve much at Porto and he eventually joined Fulham in 2011 where Sá also failed to impress - his contract was terminated in the summer of 2012. The last three seasons have been the proverbial last chance saloon for Sá and they have seen him finally live up to expectations, first with regular goals for the Cypriot club Apollon Limassol and most recently for the club from Poland's capital Legia Warsaw.

Sá's time at Legia has been one of highs and lows. The main plus about his stay in Warsaw are the goals he has scored. In his 25 Ekstraklasa (Polish top flight) appearances in the 2014-5 season, Sá scored 13 times - he's certainly not a player to fluff a chance. On the other hand Sá has increasingly shown himself to be a player with an attitude problem. There have been consistent murmurings this season that Legia's manager Henning Berg and Sá do not see eye to eye, and the concrete proof of this is the amount of times Sá has either been on the bench for Legia or left out of match-day squads - indeed 11 of his appearances this season have been as a substitute.

As indicated elsewhere the problems between Berg and Sá could simply be due to Berg's prediliction for a 4-5-1 formation with a mobile false-nine rather than the classic front-man play that Sá provides. While this may be true there have been clear examples recently of petulant behaviour from Sá both on and off the pitch. In the last match of the season against Górnik Zabrze Sá refused to wait to be substituted after signalling to the bench he was carrying an injury, he then proceeded to sulk in the changing rooms - refusing to collect the league runners-up medal that Legia had won with his teammates. This reaction angered fans and club authorities alike, and it was clear that Sá would not play for Legia again.

In terms of style of play, Sá has the potential to be a success at Reading. He is strong, good at holding the ball up, decent with his feet, and can score goals both on the ground and in the air. While he did not play as regularly as he would have liked for Legia, when he did he more often than not took the goal scoring chances that came his way. Reading fans might question Sá's rate of goals in a relatively unknown league, can the striker play at Championship level? In my opinion he definitely has it in him to be a success in England, firstly (as a regular watcher of both leagues) the Polish top flight is of approximately the same standard as the Championship, secondly Sá (although not always starting) was an important part of a Legia side which topped its Europa League group last autumn. Finally Sá will have something to prove in England after his failure at Fulham, who knows - this could be his last chance of playing in a top European league - that is if Reading get promoted or Premier League scouts notice him.

It is intriguing to consider what Steve Clarke has in mind for his new striker. Sá is a classic centre forward and in some ways duplicates what we already have in Pavel Pogrebnyak, although Sá is certainly a better finisher than the Russian. Can the two play together in a 4-4-2? I think that this option definitely should be tried by Clarke, although both of them are classic number nines they are both good on the floor and have decent awareness. They undoubtedly have the intelligence and strength to scare Championship defences. I would also advise Clarke to start Sá due to the Portuguese player's outsized ego, were Sá to end up on the bench like at Legia I'd worry about him disrupting the balance of the Reading changing room.

Reading's purchase of Sá has the potential to be a great acquisition, especially if Pogrebnyak and Sá click on the pitch. If not, then expect the Portuguese striker to stir up trouble and leave in a huff in twelve months time. As Reading fans we of course hope the former scenario to turn out to be correct.

[Snowball136]

Well done, AP

It's not always about ability

BMc is slowly shifting the bad apples.

I feel better now that Blackman has gone.

We won't miss this guy.

I think the new midfielder may be here to replace Williams. (Not saying Williams is a bad apple, but IMO he's not a great team-player and I think we will do better without him.)

[Top Flight]

Why don't you think Williams is a good team player?

He works his nuts off. Defends, attacks, tackles, passes.... How is he not a team player?

Thanks Snowball for digging up Archie's earlier post on Orlando. It does provide some information as to what the current problem might be.

[Top Flight]

Wouldn't surprise me at all if there are issues behind the scenes. I remember when we signed him Archie's penalty gave an account of his time in Poland, which as i recall gave the impression that if he wasn't starting games then we could have a problem on our hands.

http://www.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... 7#p4193030

My two cents on Sa on the Tilehurst End (I watch a lot of Polish football for my sins) http://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/201 ... reading-fc

Portuguese striker Orlando Sá looks set to sign for Reading from Legia Warsaw for a fee which is rumoured to be € 1.5 million. For a club like Reading who are desperate for any kind of transfer activity, the transfer has been met with a mixture of relief and excitement as finally the club seem to be preparing for the upcoming season. But who is Orlando Sá and is this transfer the right fit for Reading FC?

Sá's career is in many ways one of unfulfilled promise. Starting out at Braga the player made his mark in the Portuguese under-21s with a couple of hat-tricks before moving on to Porto for a fee of 3 million Euros in 2009. Injuries meant Sá was never really able to achieve much at Porto and he eventually joined Fulham in 2011 where Sá also failed to impress - his contract was terminated in the summer of 2012. The last three seasons have been the proverbial last chance saloon for Sá and they have seen him finally live up to expectations, first with regular goals for the Cypriot club Apollon Limassol and most recently for the club from Poland's capital Legia Warsaw.

Sá's time at Legia has been one of highs and lows. The main plus about his stay in Warsaw are the goals he has scored. In his 25 Ekstraklasa (Polish top flight) appearances in the 2014-5 season, Sá scored 13 times - he's certainly not a player to fluff a chance. On the other hand Sá has increasingly shown himself to be a player with an attitude problem. There have been consistent murmurings this season that Legia's manager Henning Berg and Sá do not see eye to eye, and the concrete proof of this is the amount of times Sá has either been on the bench for Legia or left out of match-day squads - indeed 11 of his appearances this season have been as a substitute.

As indicated elsewhere the problems between Berg and Sá could simply be due to Berg's prediliction for a 4-5-1 formation with a mobile false-nine rather than the classic front-man play that Sá provides. While this may be true there have been clear examples recently of petulant behaviour from Sá both on and off the pitch. In the last match of the season against Górnik Zabrze Sá refused to wait to be substituted after signalling to the bench he was carrying an injury, he then proceeded to sulk in the changing rooms - refusing to collect the league runners-up medal that Legia had won with his teammates. This reaction angered fans and club authorities alike, and it was clear that Sá would not play for Legia again.

In terms of style of play, Sá has the potential to be a success at Reading. He is strong, good at holding the ball up, decent with his feet, and can score goals both on the ground and in the air. While he did not play as regularly as he would have liked for Legia, when he did he more often than not took the goal scoring chances that came his way. Reading fans might question Sá's rate of goals in a relatively unknown league, can the striker play at Championship level? In my opinion he definitely has it in him to be a success in England, firstly (as a regular watcher of both leagues) the Polish top flight is of approximately the same standard as the Championship, secondly Sá (although not always starting) was an important part of a Legia side which topped its Europa League group last autumn. Finally Sá will have something to prove in England after his failure at Fulham, who knows - this could be his last chance of playing in a top European league - that is if Reading get promoted or Premier League scouts notice him.

It is intriguing to consider what Steve Clarke has in mind for his new striker. Sá is a classic centre forward and in some ways duplicates what we already have in Pavel Pogrebnyak, although Sá is certainly a better finisher than the Russian. Can the two play together in a 4-4-2? I think that this option definitely should be tried by Clarke, although both of them are classic number nines they are both good on the floor and have decent awareness. They undoubtedly have the intelligence and strength to scare Championship defences. I would also advise Clarke to start Sá due to the Portuguese player's outsized ego, were Sá to end up on the bench like at Legia I'd worry about him disrupting the balance of the Reading changing room.

Reading's purchase of Sá has the potential to be a great acquisition, especially if Pogrebnyak and Sá click on the pitch. If not, then expect the Portuguese striker to stir up trouble and leave in a huff in twelve months time. As Reading fans we of course hope the former scenario to turn out to be correct.

It didn't even take twelve months before he has left in a huff.

[Snowball136]

UKE dug up the post, not me.

Though sometimes Williams is involved in a flowing move, in the same way as
with Blackman, the move often breaks down with him taking a shot from distance,
often "against the percentages" and more than often failing to score.

I don't think he has the natural ethic of thinking of his team mates
(whereas Vydra maybe does it a tad too much)

I'm aware he works hard but I think his discipline is awful (I mean shape not cards)
which is why it's so easy to get at our back four.

IMO you need two steady-Eddie guys in the middle you can rely on, or you play three there.

Let's not also forget, last season especially, Williams was often seen screaming at his team-mates
but not in a good way. I prefer Quinn, and I think Alex may be a better bet. Strongly suspect the
new man can replace Williams

[Snowball136]

I don't dispute Williams can work hard, but to my eye
he's a bit "random" so is often recovering from not being
in the right place.

I like to know that 1-2 midfielders are always central and not gone AWOL

[Uke]

Wouldn't surprise me at all if there are issues behind the scenes. I remember when we signed him Archie's penalty gave an account of his time in Poland, which as i recall gave the impression that if he wasn't starting games then we could have a problem on our hands.

http://www.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... 7#p4193030

My two cents on Sa on the Tilehurst End (I watch a lot of Polish football for my sins) http://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/201 ... reading-fc

Portuguese striker Orlando Sá looks set to sign for Reading from Legia Warsaw for a fee which is rumoured to be € 1.5 million. For a club like Reading who are desperate for any kind of transfer activity, the transfer has been met with a mixture of relief and excitement as finally the club seem to be preparing for the upcoming season. But who is Orlando Sá and is this transfer the right fit for Reading FC?

Sá's career is in many ways one of unfulfilled promise. Starting out at Braga the player made his mark in the Portuguese under-21s with a couple of hat-tricks before moving on to Porto for a fee of 3 million Euros in 2009. Injuries meant Sá was never really able to achieve much at Porto and he eventually joined Fulham in 2011 where Sá also failed to impress - his contract was terminated in the summer of 2012. The last three seasons have been the proverbial last chance saloon for Sá and they have seen him finally live up to expectations, first with regular goals for the Cypriot club Apollon Limassol and most recently for the club from Poland's capital Legia Warsaw.

Sá's time at Legia has been one of highs and lows. The main plus about his stay in Warsaw are the goals he has scored. In his 25 Ekstraklasa (Polish top flight) appearances in the 2014-5 season, Sá scored 13 times - he's certainly not a player to fluff a chance. On the other hand Sá has increasingly shown himself to be a player with an attitude problem. There have been consistent murmurings this season that Legia's manager Henning Berg and Sá do not see eye to eye, and the concrete proof of this is the amount of times Sá has either been on the bench for Legia or left out of match-day squads - indeed 11 of his appearances this season have been as a substitute.

As indicated elsewhere the problems between Berg and Sá could simply be due to Berg's prediliction for a 4-5-1 formation with a mobile false-nine rather than the classic front-man play that Sá provides. While this may be true there have been clear examples recently of petulant behaviour from Sá both on and off the pitch. In the last match of the season against Górnik Zabrze Sá refused to wait to be substituted after signalling to the bench he was carrying an injury, he then proceeded to sulk in the changing rooms - refusing to collect the league runners-up medal that Legia had won with his teammates. This reaction angered fans and club authorities alike, and it was clear that Sá would not play for Legia again.

In terms of style of play, Sá has the potential to be a success at Reading. He is strong, good at holding the ball up, decent with his feet, and can score goals both on the ground and in the air. While he did not play as regularly as he would have liked for Legia, when he did he more often than not took the goal scoring chances that came his way. Reading fans might question Sá's rate of goals in a relatively unknown league, can the striker play at Championship level? In my opinion he definitely has it in him to be a success in England, firstly (as a regular watcher of both leagues) the Polish top flight is of approximately the same standard as the Championship, secondly Sá (although not always starting) was an important part of a Legia side which topped its Europa League group last autumn. Finally Sá will have something to prove in England after his failure at Fulham, who knows - this could be his last chance of playing in a top European league - that is if Reading get promoted or Premier League scouts notice him.

It is intriguing to consider what Steve Clarke has in mind for his new striker. Sá is a classic centre forward and in some ways duplicates what we already have in Pavel Pogrebnyak, although Sá is certainly a better finisher than the Russian. Can the two play together in a 4-4-2? I think that this option definitely should be tried by Clarke, although both of them are classic number nines they are both good on the floor and have decent awareness. They undoubtedly have the intelligence and strength to scare Championship defences. I would also advise Clarke to start Sá due to the Portuguese player's outsized ego, were Sá to end up on the bench like at Legia I'd worry about him disrupting the balance of the Reading changing room.

Reading's purchase of Sá has the potential to be a great acquisition, especially if Pogrebnyak and Sá click on the pitch. If not, then expect the Portuguese striker to stir up trouble and leave in a huff in twelve months time. As Reading fans we of course hope the former scenario to turn out to be correct.

It didn't even take twelve months before he has left in a huff.

Archie's post was from June last year

If Sá lasts the season it's 12 months

But his festering would have started <12 months in, so the quicker we get shot the better

[Top Flight]

I'm dissapointed he's not in Brian's plans.

But if the guy is a nuisance then Brian has to do what Brian has to do.

[paddy20]

I don't dispute Williams can work hard, but to my eye
he's a bit "random" so is often recovering from not being
in the right place.

I like to know that 1-2 midfielders are always central and not gone AWOL

Totally agree with you. He can look good on his runs forward but is very poor positionally. He always seems to be playing catch up when defending, and his ball control is suspect. Compare that with Quinn who excels in all those aspects. Brian, please wake up to this before we have an unhappy Quinn wanting to leave.

[Top Flight]

UKE dug up the post, not me.

Though sometimes Williams is involved in a flowing move, in the same way as
with Blackman, the move often breaks down with him taking a shot from distance,
often "against the percentages" and more than often failing to score.

Yep, I probably agree with that

I don't think he has the natural ethic of thinking of his team mates
(whereas Vydra maybe does it a tad too much)

I probably agree here as well to an extent

I'm aware he works hard but I think his discipline is awful (I mean shape not cards)
which is why it's so easy to get at our back four.

hmmmmm, you make sense.

IMO you need two steady-Eddie guys in the middle you can rely on, or you play three there.

Let's not also forget, last season especially, Williams was often seen screaming at his team-mates
but not in a good way. I prefer Quinn, and I think Alex may be a better bet. Strongly suspect the
new man can replace Williams

Yeah, you're probably right.... Williams Huff and Puff probably make him look a better team player than he really is. But I think it's not because he isn't a team person. He just needs better coaching maybe. He has been encouraged to shoot more by his bosses because he does seem to get goals from midfield. But maybe you're right. He is shooting a bit too often when it would be better to pass. But the East Stand don't help with their shouts of shoot whenever someone gets anywhere near the box.

[Royal Ginger]

CW reporting Athens set to take him for £600,000.

£400,000 plus wages for a hatrick plus a couple is pretty hefty.

[Uke]

CW reporting Athens set to take him for £600,000.

£400,000 plus wages for a hatrick plus a couple is pretty hefty.

[West Stand Man]

Hope he's not planning to get rid of Quinn - best player at the club IMHO. Wonder why he has such an instant lack of interest in Sa?

No mate, Danny Williams is the best player at the club

You do know it is illegal to smoke that stuff don't you?

[RG7Fan]

CW reporting Athens set to take him for £600,000.

£400,000 plus wages for a hatrick plus a couple is pretty hefty.

Did we pay £1m or €1m?

[Royal Ginger]

*checks receipts*