Moving Target – Nicky Shorey

Reading snapped up their fourth Bosman signing of the summer transfer window yesterday after Nicky Shorey joined the club from West Brom on a one-year deal. The left-back follows Garath McCleary, Danny Guthrie and Pavel Pogrebnyak to the Madejski and returns to the Royals four years after signing for Aston Villa following the club’s relegation to the Championship.

With last season’s first-choice left-back Ian Harte starting only 30 of Reading’s 46 league games, Shorey’s arrival will provide experienced cover and is likely to see Joseph Mills fall further down the pecking order in Brian McDermott’s plans. The Royals boss revealed the thinking behind the decision to bring Shorey back to the Madejski yesterday, going on to say:

I know him really well and have done over many, many years. It’s a deal I’ve been thinking about trying to do for a long time. He’s a free transfer, so I looked at the value involved in the deal and what he could bring to us – in the end it was an absolute no-brainer to do it. It gives competition in that position, which is what we felt we needed

The Statistics

The 31-year-old began his professional career back in 1999 and proceeded to make 15 first-team appearances before he was snapped up by then-Reading manager Alan Pardew for just £25,000. Shorey spent a total of seven years at the Madejski and featured in 267 league games, returning a total of 13 goals, though his final season at the club proved to be his most successful in terms of attacking returns, with three goals and nine assists accrued.

Shorey then moved to Aston Villa on a three-year deal after Reading dropped out of the top-flight but failed to nail down a regular role for the midlands outfit. His first term at Aston Villa saw Shorey feature in 21 league games and produce a single assist but he made just four appearances the following season before being farmed out on loan to Nottingham Forest and Fulham. The left-back then joined West Brom at the start of the 2010/11 campaign and made 53 league appearances over his two seasons for the Baggies but the arrival of Liam Ridgewell last January saw his game time dramatically curtailed. Shorey started 20 of West Brom’s first 24 Gameweeks last term but made the first XI just two more times, with Ridgewell preferred for the left-back role by Roy Hodgson.

The Prospects

From a Fantasy perspective, this is a transfer we really didn’t want to happen. Ian Harte’s spot-kick and set-piece duties had many managers ready to snap him up; last season the former Leeds man produced four goals and eight assists over a total of 32 appearances and was shaping up to be a strong cut-price option at the back but the Shorey transfer now places huge question marks against the wisdom of acquiring his services.

The worst scenario is that McDermott rotates both players on a regular basis in order to combat fatigue and maintain freshness amongst his backline options. Frustratingly, Reading were decent defensively last term, too; 12 clean sheets at home and eight on the road is indicative of their resilience, though this news now suggests the two centre-halves, Alex Pearce and Kaspars Gorkss, are perhaps the best route for those Fantasy managers intent on picking up a Reading defender. Aside from Harte, Pearce produced the best attacking returns at the back, with five goals and a couple of assists.

Intriguingly, the Shorey acquisition also has a knock-on effect when assessing Reading’s penalty takers. If Harte is unable to nail down a regular role, we’ll now be looking to ascertain who is next in line for spot-kick duties; at the moment there is no definitive answer but if Pavel Pogrebnyak is second in the queue, today’s twitter news that the Russian will be priced at 5.0 for the upcoming campaign in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is likely to increase his potential. The former Fulham man also comes in at 7.2 in the Sky Sports game and currently has 4.8% ownership – just behind Rickie Lambert (6.2%) from the promoted teams.

While Shorey is likely to come in at 4.0 – 4.5 in FPL, the uncertainty over his game time practically kills his appeal. Although Reading kick off the upcoming campaign with a double Gameweek 1 against Stoke and Chelsea, their opening schedule is far from enticing for Fantasy managers – particularly from a defensive perspective. Trips to Sunderland and West Brom, in addition to home clashes against Spurs and Newcastle and a blank Gameweek 3 suggests we’ll be happy to sit back and assess the situation, with the left-back dilemma hopefully resolved by the time their fixtures becomes a little kinder.