Reading’s January 2024 Transfer Departures: Where Are They Now?
Reading lost a number of key players in the winter window 12 months ago, so how are those former Royals faring now?
A whole year has passed since January 2024 (funny how that works, isn’t it?), which felt like a really difficult window for us. Selling a lot of players for very small fees - without properly informing the manager - felt like merely a cash-raising exercise at best and an asset-stripping one at worse.
However, largely, we’ve been OK since. Perhaps it’s worth bearing in mind that, given our fears for how the 2025 January window will pan out, there is always life after the leavers.
Here I stop by to check in on the old faces and see how they have been getting on since saying goodbye to us.
Ovie Ejaria
Technically not a January departure, however, Ovie Ejaria’s departure comes close enough to the January window that I’m going to count it. In any case, it might be interesting to see what he’s been up to.
Much was expected of Ejaria, particularly after John Swift’s depature to West Bromwich Albion. However, for a whole variety of reasons, it never really worked out for him, and while you’d imagine the misdemeanours had stopped, the injuries did seem to catch up with him.
Not long after being released in December 2023, he was found on trial at Plymouth Argyle. However, this came to nothing and he undertook another trial during the summer of 2024 with Oxford United - which, again, didn’t amount to anything.
Ejaria was most recently on trial at Egyptian club Zamalek SC, who are currently fourth in the Egyptian top league and also managed by a certain José Gomes. However, this once again amounted to nothing and no contract was offered. It seems the concern was centred around his recovery from the knee injury that kept him out of action for so long with us as well.
It’s a desperately sad situation for a player who had so much potential. I hope Ejaria is able to find a place to ply his trade and build up his confidence and fitness once again.
Nelson Abbey
Of all the January 2024 sales, for me, this one hurt the most. After breaking through into the first team due to a stellar League Cup performance at Millwall, he was a standout performer in the early part of Ruben Sellés’ tenure.
However, his excellent displays – and they really were good, he was outperforming Tyler Bindon – meant clubs took notice, and there were soon discussions about a move to Luton Town. However, he eventually made the left-field switch to Greek side Olympiacos.
He wasn’t really given much of a chance to prove himself during the second half of the 2023/24 season there, only making four appearances. This led to a season-long loan move in the summer to Championship side Swansea City.
However, this didn’t go to plan either. Swansea do have quite a strong centre-back pairing of Ben Cabango and Harry Darling, but Abbey didn’t even get a look-in on the bench, racking up just 58 minutes of football, all in one Carabao Cup game. In January he was recalled and sent back out on loan, this time to Rio Ave.
It’s a real shame to see such a talent get wasted. A player of his quality deserves to play, especially at this stage of his development.
Tom Holmes
After Luton Town weren’t able to pick up Abbey, they instead turned their attention to fellow centre-back Tom Holmes. It felt at the time that this was a move with their expected relegation from the Premier League in mind, to bring in cover and Championship-level experience. This feeling was further confirmed as Luton were willing to allow Holmes to return to us on loan for the remainder of the 2023/24 season.
Holmes had been featuring as the main starter on the right side of the centre-back pairing, after having some time out of the first team earlier in the season, and with the departure of Abbey, Bindon took that place on the left.
It looked promising to start with; Holmes’ physical presence and aerial ability were really valuable for us. However, he picked up an injury and Amadou Mbengue was drafted in instead, and the rest is history for the Mbengue/Bindon pairing.
With Luton playing a back three in the Championship, Holmes didn’t immediately get into the first team. However, he seems to have now nailed down a position on the right side of the back three, though sometimes he has been known to pop up in the centre or on the left of that trio.
So far season, Holmes has made 16 appearances for Luton in the league, contributing a goal and an assist. The Hatters have struggled to re-capture their previous Championship form that got them promoted from the play-offs in 2022/23, are fighting to stay out of the relegation places, and recently swapped manager Rob Edwards for former Wycombe Wanderers boss Matt Bloomfield. You’d imagine Holmes’ experience in relegation battles will be an asset for the side.
Caylan Vickers
Much like Abbey, Caylan Vickers was another one to break through into the first team last season after performing well at The Den.
His performances didn’t go unnoticed and Brighton & Hove Albion swooped in with an offer to take him into their under-21s set-up. It’s hard to begrudge him the move and, frankly, it’s quite the compliment to how highly he is regarded, given how well known Brighton are for identifying young talent and giving them a chance to develop at a higher level.
While he isn’t troubling the first team yet – he’s only just turned 20, after all – he is starring for the under-21s. In 10 Premier League 2 games so far this season2, he has delivered five goals and two assists. He has also featured in the EFL Trophy, with three appearances bringing one goal.
On this basis, it seems he’s ticking along nicely and it won’t be long before we see him either venture out on loan somewhere or begin to get some minutes from the bench in first-team cup competitions.
Taylan Harris
Harris broke out last season through an EFL Trophy rotation, scoring a goal and providing an assist in the historic 9-0 win against Exeter City. He otherwise made only one Reading first-team squad, failing to get off the bench against Ipswich Town in the League Cup, but clearly he made an impression in this fixture and his time in the academy.
So much so that Luton came knocking again, and got in place a somewhat surprising agreement to take him over to their youth set-up.
I’m not entirely sure what he stood to gain from this move, if I’m honest, given Reading’s academy is far more developed. I suspect better money being on offer, and the pressure from the club to make the move to raise finances, were factors.
Having made the move, he largely seems to have disappeared off the radar in their under-21s, often only making the bench for the side. Hopefully he is given a chance to kick on from there, as his stats while with Reading’s academy set-up were hugely impressive.
Tom McIntyre
The last of the January departures, and probably the one that caused the most consternation other than Abbey’s move. This wasn’t just due to the loss of a key player returning from injury, but also for the paltry fee that was reported to have been agreed between Reading and fellow League One side Portsmouth, who smelled a bargain and fully took advantage of the opportunity.
In a debut of Jonathan Woodgate-esque proportions, McIntyre broke his ankle and, weirder still, was sent off for the challenge. The red card was later rescinded by the league, but unfortunately, you can’t rescind injuries and he spent the rest of last season out.
Returning to action in September, McIntyre has so far made 12 appearances in the league this season for a Portsmouth side fighting against relegation from the Championship. He’s not yet managed to hold down a regular position in the starting XI, but seems to retain the faith of his manager, despite not yet having had an opportunity to show the best of himself yet.
It’s probably due to a combination of injury concerns and the fact that Portsmouth play a back four - and McIntyre hasn’t really played in a back four for quite some time. However, given a consistent run, you’d believe he can stake a claim in the starting XI.