Reading decided to offload striker Leroy Lita to Charlton Athletic on loan for a month and for all those who might still be bemused as to why and how this move came to fruition, here is the reason from Reading manager Steve Coppell’s own mouth:
Leroy has been very, very frustrated.
He’s started a number of games this season and not scored many goals. He’s been frustrated recently when I’ve selected a front two who haven’t scored, carried on choosing them and he’s not got a sniff.
Just by chance, this week I was speaking to Alan Pardew and Leroy’s name was mentioned. It just seemed to me to be almost a logical thing.
There’s an element of risk, I know that. If we get an injury at the weekend, we’d be left a striker short and the risk I’ve taken would have been unnecessary.
But Leroy being here and frustrated isn’t helping him, or us. Now he’s got a chance to go there, fight for his place and hopefully play.
We have four strikers, he wouldn’t have started Saturday, so it seemed the right thing to do.
Last season, Lita was one of the best players for Reading but this season he has failed to capture his old form and is supposedly not wanted by Coppell anymore. Lita has started just 7 Premier League games this season and let’s hope that his stint at The Valley does him some good.