Reading Football Club News

• Nickname:Royals
• Founded:1871
• Manager:Brian McDermott

• Ground:Madejski Stadium
• Capacity:24,200

Royals reject Shorey offer

05 Aug 2008 - 10:05:06

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Reading manager Steve Coppell has revealed that his club have turned down an official bid for England international left-back Nicky Shorey.

The 27-year-old is reported to be a target for Portsmouth, Aston Villa and now Sunderland, but Coppell insists he will not be pressured into allowing Shorey to leave on the cheap.

He told the Reading Chronicle: "We do not need to sell anyone, so I am not going to give anyone away.

"The offer we have had is not one that we find acceptable. I have spoken to Nicky and he accepts the situation.

"He's said on a number of occasions he would like a fresh challenge. We had a little bit of interest for Nicky last week, but I didn't feel it was an acceptable market valuation.

"It's an unsatisfactory situation. First and foremost, I'd love Nicky to be happy, to play here and really feel his future is with us.

"But he wants to go, we have an asset, so what's the value? I've said to players if they don't want to be here, as long as we get an acceptable market value, they can go.

"Just to make people happy, I'm not going to sell people cheaply. We don't have to sell players for financial reasons."