Dayong Pang speaks out as Reading FC secure transfer agreement for 26-year-old

Championship side Reading have confirmed the arrival of former AFC Wimbledon centre-back Terell Thomas on a short-term deal until the end of the campaign.

The Royals were in desperate need of more centre-backs amid a major injury crisis at the Select Car Leasing Stadium earlier in the season, with the likes of Tom McIntyre, Scott Dann and Michael Morrison all suffering injuries that ruled them out for months at a time.

Thankfully for the Berkshire outfit, all three have returned but the former has been required to slot in at left-back in the absence of Baba Rahman and with Liam Moore sealing a deadline day loan move to Stoke City in January, they have needed more options in the centre.

With this, they moved to bring in Thomas on a trial basis, with the 26-year-old having his contract terminated at League One strugglers Crewe Alexandra at the end of January.

Appearing in multiple games for the Royals’ Under-23s, the second-tier side are seemingly satisfied that he’s fit enough and capable of performing in the Championship, a level he has never played at before.

His contract runs until the end of the season so the central defender will only have a very limited amount of time to impress, but CEO Dayong Pang believes he will be a good asset to have.

Speaking to the club’s media team, he said: “We have eight games remaining this season and we want to give ourselves the very best chance of winning our fight for second-tier survival in the last six weeks of the campaign.

“Terell has been training well with our first team and has been professional and patient in his attitude and application on the training pitch and adding him to our first team group will bring competition for places at the back, helping to push our players to