Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes that Reading manager Paul Ince will have "some flexibility” in the transfer market despite being under a transfer embargo.

Mr Maguire is the co-host of popular podcast The Price of Football and is a lecturer at Liverpool University.

Now a regular contributor on the Business Magazine, Maguire is a go-to voice for all things football finance in an era where the sport is decided off the field almost as much as it is on the field.

Assessing the financial states of clubs in the South-East of England, excluding London sides, he looked at the likes of Bournemouth, Southampton and Oxford United among others.

When discussing the Royals, he made clear that it was the lack of cost control that has come back to haunt the club, who at one stage were spending more than 200 per cent of income on wages but does hint that things could be beginning to move in the right direction after the expiration of big contracts.

This is clear to see with the club currently having just seven players contract beyond the summer. Key man John Swift has already departed to join West Brom and other important cogs such as Andy Rinomhota and Josh Laurent are among five names weighing up deals from the club.

Speaking on the outlet, he said: “Reading are in a period of retrenchment. They only avoided relegation in 2021/22 because Derby’s 21 point deduction for financial issues significantly exceeded that of the Royals. Reading’s problem has been one of cost control, or to put it more succinctly, a lack of cost control, in relation to wages. 

“Manager Paul Ince will have some flexibility this summer as there are many players whose contracts on unsustainable wage levels have expired over the last twelve months, but the club is still under an embargo from the EFL for a breach of profitability and sustainability rules, so recruitment will be impacted as a result.”

The club are limited predominantly to free agents and loan deals, something which they have had to cope with for multiple seasons now as a result of the heavy spending in the past.