Reading boss Ruben Selles has tried to alleviate supporters' fears of another January fire sale as the financial crisis at the club rages on.

Set to head into yet another calendar year under the ownership of Dai Yongge, despite being up on the market for over 13 months, fans are rightly concerned about the day-to-day liquidity at the football club.

Releasing an official statement on Thursday, the club said; 'Full focus will remain on operating as prudently as possible until the sale is completed to new investors who can take the club forward.'

Last January, the likes of Tom Holmes, Tom McIntyre, Nelson Abbey and Caylan Vickers were all sold at cut prices to help pay bills, some of which were waved through before Selles was told.

Thousands of supporters invaded the pitch and saw a match against Port Vale abandoned, in part due to the firesale last winter.

Fearing more of the same after Christmas, Selles has tried to calm nerves but admits things can change.

"It has happened in the past and I hope it will not happen in the future. As much as we talk right now, nobody from the club has given me any evidence that we will sell any players. We actually cannot sell any players because we will not be competitive.

"We are under transfer embargo still with the EFL and not only can’t we make any transfers, we cannot sign anyone even on loan- that is information we have from the EFL. We are now quite limited in our resources, so I don’t expect to lose any players in the January transfer window.

"I know things can change and next week or another we can be told something, but it will not be acceptable if we lose players and can’t replace them."

Reading fans had expected to be rid of Yongge by now, with a deal to American Rob Couhig all-but done over the summer and the former Wycombe Wanderers chief is set to launch legal proceedings.

Speaking on the ordeal as a whole, the Spaniard has admitted a resolution is long overdue.

"The situation is complex. I have spoken many times on that, and we had a situation when Rob Couhig’s project didn’t go through that we expected more.

"It is time to solve the situation from the club, the current ownership, in one way or another. We need to stop speculating. All we want is to play football matches and be together with the fans, not thinking about wages, hotels or selling players.

"If the situation is that we need to sell players, we need to sit all together and say, ‘What is the best scenario and what can we do?’ We need some transparency."