Hammond talks about transfers

Reading's Director of Football Nicky Hammond has spoke about the Royals' transfer dealings so far and what he expects in the next few weeks. Hammond was about new signing Karl Sheppard, Jimmy Kebe and possible incoming loan deals.

Striker Karl Sheppard was signed a few days ago from Shamrock Rovers on a free transfer, while Jimmy Kebe's future remains unclear despite offering him an improved deal a few weeks ago.

Hammond the told the official RFC site: 'As always we'll need clarity in regard to finance and whether we can push forward. We signed Karl Sheppard last week, it's a big transition and step up for him so that will take time.'

'I'm sure there'll be other bits and pieces happening, and as always if we can find a player that adds to the squad and helps us push forward, with the permission of the Chairman and the board, we will do that.'

'Perhaps the odd loan but Brian and I are not fans of four or five loan players, it's not our style. Elsewhere, we might look to loan a couple of players out who need games and haven't played much first team football.'

On the topic of want-away winger Jimmy Kebe, Hammond added: 'There's no pressure from upstairs for us to do a deal on Jimmy. He's been offered a new contract, we hope he's going to stay. There's been some offers on the table but we've got no desire to sell.'

Rumours have been flirting round all sort of networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Former Reading target Michael Jacobs has once again be mentioned, despite McDermott failing in a bid in the summer.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.