Hob Nob Anyone?

Arsenal target Alex McCarthy is set to quit Reading. The 24-year-old is seen as a replacement for back-up keeper Lukasz Fabianski, 29, who is leaving.

According to The Sun and BBC

Perhaps this is what Feds tweet about a "fresh start" on Saturday was referring to?

You should rename this thread to 'Reading player exodus'.

Going to be a long summer..... But wouldn't be overly fussed if we lost him. Federici a more than capable Number 1.

And Feds to.......Whether to avoid our ownership shambles or for us to offload a wage. Left with Andersen (if he hasn't gone yet or going as well) backed up by Taylor, but we still have other juniors as well.

Fantastic move for both Alex and the club, good luck to the lad.

This was a rumour not so long ago, the papers have probably just dug it up again now we've missed out on promotion.

Believe it when I see it. He's nowhere near ready for Arsenal and he's got Taylor as an example of what happens when you go as backup.

Inevitable really and did think Arsenal would be the club for him.

As long as we get decent money to go into Anton's pocket then am happy

Binfield Royal wrote:Arsenal target Alex McCarthy is set to quit Reading. The 24-year-old is seen as a replacement for back-up keeper Lukasz Fabianski, 29, who is leaving.

According to The Sun and BBC

Perhaps this is what Feds tweet about a "fresh start" on Saturday was referring to?

With us needing to get big earners off the books, I'd let both of them go (Feds was on 30k a week in the PL). Give Andersen his chance.

How much would we get for him? £5 million would be excellent business.

Quite a few clubs in the Prem will be needing a new keeper. West Ham certainly do, Newcastle could do as well if Krul goes to Juve. Not a case of if he goes but when. Can see Feds being moved on as well as he is on good wages.Never seen Anderson play, but has had plenty of match experience out on loan so not a disaster and has had some good reviews.

Expecting Taylor to be released in the summer and one of MCCarthy or Feds to go. But then I said that last year and we kept all three so who knows, but there's no way I can see it happening again.

loyalroyal4life wrote:Inevitable really and did think Arsenal would be the club for him.

As long as we get decent money to go into Anton's pocket then am happy

Ian Royal wrote:Believe it when I see it. He's nowhere near ready for Arsenal and he's got Taylor as an example of what happens when you go as backup.

He doesn't have to be ready for Arsenal, he just has to be better than Szczesny. I think he'd fancy himself.

Arsenal can fcuk off now.

We have a very decent production line of keepers from our Academy, it seems to be something we excel at.

Yes it would be sad if Mccarthy went, but the best thing for that production would be that we actually sell those who are good enough and promote from within.

Depends if McCarthy wants to sit on the bench a lot but earn big bucks, I guess. The club, doubtless, will find it hard to refuse the cash. (I'd rather him stay over Federici, mind you...he can leave any time he likes, imo.)

ZacNaloen wrote:We have a very decent production line of keepers from our Academy, it seems to be something we excel at.

Yes it would be sad if Mccarthy went, but the best thing for that production would be that we actually sell those who are good enough and promote from within.

Surely the best thing is to keep the best keeper and use the production line to support him and/or fund the production line by selling off the lesser keepers.

I can see us selling both McCarthy and Federici and ending up with Andersen as number one by the way things are sounding. I'd rather we sold the latter two though and kept McCarthy, but it could be better long term to lose him if we're only prolonging the inevitable.

Yeh, you can do that when you are an established top team where there aren't better options elsewhere.

We need the cash and out of all our players McCarthy will gener8 the highest transfer fee being young and English. I presume he will be sought after but I was a little disappointed with him this season, I felt he could've bossed the Championship after some of his performances that earned him the England call-up.

If someone were to come in with a £4-5m+ offer then I'd say take it and hope Federici stays (he's making noises about a "fresh start" on Twitter, not sure what that means). Federici and Andersen would be more than adequate at this level.

Can't wait to see McCarthy coming off his line and getting beaten to the punch like the games against Millwall and Yeovil.