Adam Federici, Jem Karacan and Alex Pearce all departed the Select Car Leasing Stadium on the expiration of their deals and following a slow start to the window, the green light was finally given to Steve Clarke to rebuild.
Orlando Sa was the first man to arrive in Berkshire, with Stephen Quinn, Paul McShane, Jonathan Bond, Ali Al-Habsi and Paolo Hurtado all coming in as permanent additions.
Andrew Taylor, Alex Fernandez, Lucas Piazon, Matej Vydra and Ola John came in on loan, with Michael Hector also making the temporary move back to Berkshire after being sold by Chelsea.
They didn’t recruit badly, based on these additions, but some of these signings didn’t pan out.
Quinn stayed on the sidelines for the most of his time at SCL Stadium, Bond failed to establish himself as a consistent starter for the whole of his visit, Hurtado played little at all, and Fernandez, despite his admirers’ affection for him on social media, had little effect.
While Piazon performed admirably at times, Al-Habsi was an excellent addition, John had some truly exceptional moments in blue and white, and McShane did alright overall.
Nevertheless, Vydra, a signing from the summer of 2015, sticks out for all the wrong reasons.
How much Reading FC paid Watford to take Matej Vydra on loan
Vydra came in from Watford on loan and, considering his quality, the Hornets were always going to demand a loan fee for the Czech man. However, the Hertfordshire outfit negotiated a particularly excellent deal, with the Royals forking out a whopping £2.5m to take the striker on loan for the season. This deal would have been worth it if he had guided the Berkshire side to promotion, but he failed to do so and didn’t score anywhere near enough goals to justify the amount that was spent on a temporary move.
Vydra scored regularly in the FA Cup, bagging a brace against Walsall and a hat-trick against Huddersfield Town. And even in the league, despite his poor scoring record, he managed to get himself into some decent positions. He looked like the real deal on his debut against Ipswich Town, grabbing an assist in a 5-1 win and looking like a real asset alongside Sa. But he didn’t convert enough of his chances during his time in Berkshire, working hard and popping up in the right areas, but failing to make that count. His time at the SCL Stadium can be summed up by his penalty miss away at Bolton
He outperformed Rob Holding and did a great job to win a penalty.
However, John’s last-minute winner was all that was needed for the Royals to win that day as he had saved his penalty.
Vydra was undoubtedly a poor signing for the Royals that season because he did not perform well and the team did not get promoted.
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