Akande Leaves, Camara Stays: Thoughts On Reading’s Retained List
The Royals’ retained list, put out on Friday afternoon, threw up a few contentious points to chew over.
Reading’s retained list has finally dropped, with not particularly surprising timing given that the deadline for it to be submitted was tomorrow (May 17). New owner Rob Couhig actually confirmed in quotes to the local media, published today, that offers had been sent out on Thursday to the players Reading wanted to keep.
The first thing to note is, simply: boy is there a lot to get through here. It’s quicker to go through all the players without a contract status to be resolved, with Reading’s long-running difficulty in giving out multi-year contracts consistently throwing up heavy turmoil each summer.
If you can’t be bothered to go through all the text and just want a snappy summary of everything in visual format, here’s a graphic just below. It’s not exhaustive - some under-21 players are included, others aren’t - but should give a general impression of how our depth looks. If you’d like it video format, click this link.
Who’s staying?
Those contracted players, whose fates weren’t determined by this retained list, are as follows: Andre Garcia, Kelvin Abrefa, Lewis Wing, Charlie Savage, Harvey Knibbs, Ben Elliott.
The only bit of interesting news in there is on Garcia, whose status hadn’t been known publicly before the retained list came out. However, the club confirmed that Garcia - a year one scholar - “remains under contract for the 2025/26 season”. That doesn’t determine specifically when his deal runs out, but at least it isn’t this summer.
Younger players also contracted to the club are:
- Emmanuel Osho
- Tyler Sackey
- Kiyan Coke-Miles-Smith
- Jerae Jones
- Dennis Bossman
Another straightforward bit of news is that Mamadi Camara is one of five players with a year-long option activated. He’s the most senior though, with the other four (see below) being at under-21 level, although some have briefly appeared for the first team in the cup).
- Joseph Barough
- Boyd Beacroft
- Tom Norcott
- Matthew Rowley
Camara being kept on is probably the most contentious bit of the retained list, going by the reaction on Twitter at least. While I’d agree that he’s not been that great this season, often struggling to really make an impact on games offensively/creatively, as a (probably cheap) League One backup for a year he’s absolutely fine, so I can see why Reading have kept him.
He works hard, is versatile enough to play on either side and is pretty tidy in possession. That isn’t to say there isn’t a lot of room for improvement on his attacking product, although I do think criticism of him this season has been somewhat overblown.
Plus, Reading are losing a fair number of wide players this summer with some released (see below) or returning to their parent club (Billy Bodin, Chem Campbell). In that light, retaining one of them makes sense as a quick, easy bit of squad building amid a lot of overhaul elsewhere.
Who’s being released?
Reading have let half a dozen or so first-team players leave. That consists of a few veterans who weren’t particularly prominent last season (David Button, Harlee Dean, Tom Carroll) and some younger players who’ve stepped up from under-21 level but - after varying levels of exposure to first-team football - failed to kick on: Adrian Akande, Coniah Boyce-Clarke, Louie Holzman, Jay Senga.
Further down the youth levels, the following are also departing the SCL:
- Charlie Wellens
- Verrell George
- James Sharlott
- Kai Source
It’s not a huge surprise to see Button, Dean or Carroll go, although I wouldn’t have been against keeping Button as backup for a year. Dean is getting on a bit and didn’t play a lot last season due to injury largely (but may stay on as a coach), while Carroll barely featured at all.
It’s a shame, but not a shock, that Boyce-Clarke, Holzman and Senga have been moved on. All have been in that ‘too old for under-21s, not quite good enough for first team’ zone for a little while now, and just haven’t really showed their potential. Moving them on will free up money - and space for younger talent to push through (for example Norcott, Kanu and Spencer).
Akande on the other hand to me is the other side of the coin to Camara. Both are probably fine as League One depth, but keeping each of them may have risked jamming the squad up with too many players that aren’t top-end League One level. And again, with other young players waiting in the wings (Kiyan Coke-Miles-Smith, Emmanuel Osho for example), moving Akande on opens a door to others.
These youngsters being moved on is a reminder of just how harsh and brutal football really is. Undoubtedly all are talented players, but clubs - definitely including Reading - have to be ruthless. The best of luck to all of them in the future, wherever their careers take them.
Who’s been offered a contract?
I’ve left the (generally) least contentious bit to last. Basically, the bulk of Reading’s out-of-contract players have been offered deals, so it’s clear that the club are hoping for continuity where possible. Remember: even if all of these players agree fresh terms, there’ll still be a hefty amount of external recruitment to do.
The senior-level players offered new terms are:
- Joel Pereira
- Andy Yiadom
- Amadou Mbengue
- Jeriel Dorsett
- Abraham Kanu
- Michael Stickland
- Michael Craig
- Tivonge Rushesha
- Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan
- Jayden Wareham
I don’t think anyone really is that surprised to see Pereira, Mbengue, Stickland, Craig or Wareham on that list. The first two would be great players to retain next season, although there’ll surely be interest from elsewhere. Some other players are potentially good options at League One level if they can sort out fitness/inconsistency problems (Dorsett, Kanu, Rushesha, Ehibhatiomhan).
The biggest surprise in there is Yiadom, who I’d expected to be moved on. The 33-year-old has struggled with injury recently, playing 2,340 minutes in 2023/24 and just 487 in 2024/25, so retaining him is a bit of a gamble. I’d thought this would be an area where Reading would prioritise getting in an established, younger right-back for the long run, as opposed to sticking with Yiadom.
Still, clearly the club have confidence he can play a sizeable part next season, so if that’s the case then this news gets a thumbs up from me. If his fitness does hold then Yiadom brings experience, versatility and good technical ability, although you’d imagine Abrefa will have hopes of usurping his spot in the starting XI on a regular basis.
The following younger players will also hopefully put pen to paper:
- Shay Spencer
- John Clarke
- John Ryan
- Jacob Borgnis
- Basil Tuma
- Jeremiah Okine-Peters
- Ashqar Ahmed
- Carter Bowdery
- Philip Duah
- Sam Harrison
- Luke Howard
- Josh Welland
The top three names jump out for me. Spencer looked a real talent when he played for the first team last season and I’d love to see more of him at the base of Reading’s midfield next season. It’s also great to see Clarke and Ryan offered terms - they’d have stood good chances of playing regularly at full-back last season, were it not for injury, so I’m pleased they’re being kept on.