Double swoop imminent

Reading hope to wrap up a deal for Adrian Mariappa while boss Brian McDermott has also confirmed another signing is close.

It has been a busy summer so far for the Royals as they plan for life back in the top flight and Pavel Pogrebnyak, Danny Guthrie, Garath McCleary, Nicky Shorey and Pierce Sweeney have already arrived at the club.
However McDermott is keen to add two other faces to his ranks before closing the cheque book for the summer. Mariappa is one of them and McDermott is hopeful of wrapping up the formalities of the deal before they jet out to Portugal later this week, while an offer has gone in for another unnamed target.
"We've signed a few players, we're trying to get two more in and once we've done that we'll be done and dusted," the boss revealed.
"I've been asked about Mariappa, we've got a formality to finalise, once that is complete we're hopeful we'll get him done and dusted very early in the week and he'd be coming to Portugal with us.
"We've also made an offer for another player, that has been going on for a number of weeks. We're hopeful we can get it done."
Newcastle defender Danny Simpson has been heavily linked but it remains to be seen if that is the player McDermott has targeted.