Reading Sell Sam Smith To Wrexham
The Royals have netted a reported figure of £2m, but now have a gaping hole in the team.
Just as you thought Reading would emerge from January unscathed on the player sales front... well, nope. Sam Smith has been sold to League One rivals Wrexham, who’ve broken their own transfer record to pay a reported £2m for his services.
Multiple reports emerged on Thursday afternoon that Smith was nearing a move to Wrexham. Football Insider said on Friday morning that a medical was taking place, and the deal was later fully confirmed on Friday afternoon.
Reading FC said:
"Whilst the club was not actively seeking to sell Sam, the significant offer payable by Wrexham will help support the essential short-term finances required to run the club."
Strangely, the finances of the deal feel simultaneously like the most important thing and an utter irrelevance.
On the one hand, the Royals are in desperate need of funds to ease their cashflow concerns, ensure bills are paid and avoid any possible disciplinary action that could have broader, deeply negative impacts on the club. That funding really should be coming from Dai Yongge - it’s unacceptable that it isn’t - but if he doesn’t cough up, the bills still have to be paid. Bringing in a sizeable fee for Smith, as well as getting his wages off the books, goes a long way to easing Reading’s cashflow concerns.
And in normal circumstances - though I barely remember what those are anymore - £2m for a League One striker who came in on a free would be good business. A normal club would then be in a position to smartly reinvest that cash. Of course, the current edition of Reading Football Club can’t do that.
It’s a bitter irony that Reading were so bad at cashing in on players during their time in the Championship - when they generally were in a position to pay transfer fees - but now we are selling more often, it’s because we need to pay the bills rather than being able to reinvest in new talent.
There’s so much more than money to take into consideration here though. Reading are losing one of their best players: an excellent all-round lone striker who’s been integral to the pressing system and a reliable, consistent source of goals.
Smith leaves the Royals after scoring 11 goals in 26 games across all competitions this season, as well as 16 in 37 last season. Just Richard Kone (16), Louie Barry (15) and Jay Stansfield (12) are above him in the League One 2024/25 scoring charts.
The Royals did well to bring him in, Smith has developed excellently in his own right over the last season and a half, and he now leaves a gaping hole in this team at the top end of the pitch.
You can see why Wrexham have invested heavily in him, and really, you can’t blame him for heading elsewhere. This club is a mess - that’ll weigh on the entire squad, not just Smith - and the opportunity to join an upwardly mobile club makes sense from his point of view. He’s certainly given his all at Reading so far and played a huge part in last season’s successful fight against relegation, so we couldn’t have asked for much more from him.
All the best Sam.
Who replaces Smith?
At this point the working assumption is that Reading won’t be able to bring in a replacement, although the EFL did allow Chem Campbell’s loan to be extended. Perhaps they’ll allow another loan deal if the club can convince them the finances involved aren’t significant.
If the Royals can’t sign anyone else, that leaves three options for the starting centre-forward role.
Jayden Wareham is on paper the next man up. He’s had the most game time in Smith’s position this season (with the exception of Smith of course), scoring against West Ham United, Newport County and Exeter City.
Wareham just doesn’t seem ready to lead the line week in, week out at League One level at the moment though. I hope that changes, but Reading have more reliable options elsewhere.
The most obvious of those is Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan. A striker earlier in his career, it’s worth remembering how well he performed up top early last season, albeit alongside a partner in Ruben Selles’ 4-2-2-2. He’s since switched to the left wing, but could swap back to the middle easily enough.
Ehibhatiomhan does struggle for consistency though, not to mention staying fit. He’s missed a large chunk of this season already and, going by his performance at Burton Albion on Tuesday, probably still isn’t back to full sharpness.
Reading could alternatively use Harvey Knibbs there - which Alex wrote about a little while ago. Knibbs has experience as a centre-forward, has the build to be an imposing leader of the line, will press from the front intelligently and energetically, and even has a goalscoring record at Reading to rival Smith’s.
He’d be my pick, meaning a midfield three of Michael Craig, Lewis Wing and Charlie Savage. That could ultimately leave Reading with a better-balanced midfield, although it remains to be seen how good Knibbs would be up top in practice.