John Madejski seems keen on wishing Steve Coppell and all Reading supporters a very Merry Christmas as he is to dip into his pocket for a second time today.
The wealthy Royals chairman this morning found the finances in the club coffers to bring Sheffield Wednesday forward Lloyd Owusu to the club on a one-month loan deal.
Now Cambridge United have revealed that they have accepted an offer worth in excess of a quarter of a million from Reading Football Club for their twenty-three-year-old forward Dave Kitson.
However, a deal for Kitson must be completed by noon tomorrow if he is to make his debut on Boxing Day. The chances are Kitson won't make his debut until we play Ipwsich on January 10th.
Cambridge United manager John Taylor revealed that the club were preparing to let their most prized asset leave to join Reading.
"The deal is worth £250,000 plus additional add-ons, and is subject to the boy agreeing personal terms with Reading and passing a medical," he said to the Cambridge Official Site.
The U's number nine is this afternoon in Reading, attempting to agree terms with the club. However, even if Kitson agrees to a transfer his deal will be subject to a medical. The usually straight-forward health checks could cause Coppell's heart to beat a bit faster as the United centre-forward has missed the last five games through injury so could conceivably struggle to complete the tests to physio Jon Fearn's satisfaction.
But Kitson has the pedigree to be given a little leeway in the health checks as Cambridge United's lofty thirteenth place in the Third Division is largely down to the strikers input.
The giant 6ft 3inch centre forward, one of the Third Division's hottest porperties, has banged in eleven goals so far this season and is currently the U's leading scorer.
Kitson is a big target man, who previously played for non-league side Arlesey Town. His deft touch on the ball sees him set up as many goals as he scores. Whilst Reading MAD are excited by Kitson's undoubted potential, to us he sounds rather like Bas Savage which is never a good thing as some of Bas' displays suggest he is a good Third Division player but no better.
As with Owusu, the jury will be out on Kitson when he arrives at the club, nevertheless, we can't help but be excited by the fact that we are on the verge of signing two players in under 24 hours.
Should the deal be completed, Kitson won't be the first big money forward with a big reputation to leave Cambridge for Reading. Nearly four years ago the Royals bought Martin Butler off the U's for £750,000. At the time we thought we had done better from the transfer dealing but now many will agree that Cambridge got the better end of the bargain.
Dave Kitson - Facts & Stats