2 potential knock-on effects at Reading FC as club secure transfer agreement

Championship side Reading have moved to recruit former Aston Villa and AFC Bournemouth shot-stopper Orjan Nyland on a short-term deal until the end of the season, the club confirmed yesterday.

The 31-year-old terminated his contract with the Cherries in late January after seeing Freddie Woodman sign on loan for the remainder of the season to compete with Mark Travers.

With Travers performing well and Woodman likely to remain ahead of the Norwegian in the pecking order, Nyland decided to sever his ties with Scott Parker’s men and now finds himself in Berkshire as he looks to keep his new side afloat in the second tier.

The Royals were arguably in need of a goalkeeping reinforcement following Karl Hein’s freak injury, a setback that looks to keep him out for the remainder of the season with the Estonian returning to parent club Arsenal.

Nyland will come in to challenge Luke Southwood for the number one jersey at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, with the latter, Coniah Boyce-Clarke and Jokull Andresson three quite inexperienced options at their disposal prior to yesterday’s arrival.

For better or for worse, there will be knock-on effects due to this signing, but what will they be? We predict just two of these potential effects below.

Fewer set-piece concessions?

The Royals have conceded an absurd number of goals from set-pieces, particularly corners, this season.

Despite adopting both a zonal marking and a man-to-man marking system, neither has brought them any luck and only one conclusion can be taken from that: it’s the players who are the problem.

Southwood has been the subject of criticism on social media for his role in some of these set-piece goals, with his recent reluctance to come and claim aerial balls proving to