Boss confirms striker deal

Brian McDermott has confirmed the capture of Pavel Pogrebnyak and says the signing shows how ambitious Reading are.

The Royals have beaten off competition from a host of clubs including Fulham to land the Russian striker on a free transfer and McDermott says it is a huge coup for the club.
Reading have been working on the deal since the end of the season and it looks as though Russian owner Anton Zingarevich played a big role in convincing him to sign.
The 28-year-old will become Reading's top earner but McDermott says he is worth it and the signing sends out a positive statement of intent following promotion to the Premier League.
"The owner had a chat with Pavel about six weeks ago, towards the end of last season. I met him, too," McDermott revealed. "He took a long time. He showed us a lot of respect and we're delighted to get him. It shows where we are going as a club.
"He's a great transfer for us. An excellent player. But what more drew me to him was that he is a good person. A good character. He works really hard for the team and fits into what all of my players have shown over the last season.
"We kept talking over those six weeks. We needed him to know how important it was to us to get him. That was made very, very clear."