Reading continued their busy summer of squad restructuring last week with the capture of Adrian Mariappa from Watford on a three-year contract. The 25-year-old arrives in a deal rumoured to be in the region of £3m and finally earns the centre-half a move to the Premier League, after interest from both Newcastle and Wigan midway during the 2011/12 campaign failed to come to fruition:
Mariappa is the fifth player to arrive at the Madejski, following Pavel Pogrebnyak, Nicky Shorey, Danny Guthrie and Garath McCleary to the club and, with Chris Gunter subsequently signing up from Nottingham Forest, Reading boss Brian McDermott has wasted little time in bolstering his squad after last year’s promotion from the Championship. McDermott spoke of his relief at finally landing Mariappa after pursuing the player for a number of weeks:
I’m delighted to get the deal to sign Aidy over the line, we have been chasing him all summer. He’s been a very important player for Watford over a number of years, he is well known to most of our players already and also the staff here. Every single person I have spoken to about him has nothing but good things to say about him both as a player and as a person.
The Statistics
Up until now, Mariappa has spent his entire career at Vicarage Road. Working his way up through the Watford youth system, he also skippered the reserves before signing his first professional contract in the summer of 2005. The defender made just three league appearances in his initial season with the first-team as the Hornets clinched promotion to the Premier League, though his one and only campaign in the top-flight was less than successful. Mariappa was hauled off at half-time in the opening game of 2006/07 and was only afforded a route back into the starting lineup due to injuries to others, with his versatility enabling him to deputise at right-back.
It took Mariappa until the 2008-9 campaign before he became a regular for the Hornets but the past four seasons have seen him firmly established as a crucial component of the club’s back-four. A run of 113 consecutive league games – the fourth highest in the club’s history – was only ended by suspension but it was his consistency of performance that caught the eye of many in the Premier League. In total, he made 216 league appearances for Watford, scoring four goals and assisting four, and departs with the club’s Player of the Year for 2011/12 under his belt. Mariappa also kick-started his international career with Jamaica this year and has so far made four appearances.
The Prospects
Although many expect the £3m man will slot straight into the Royals’ backline, it’s perhaps a little too early to make assumptions regarding McDermott’s plans. Granted, Mariappa has the advantage of pace and mobility over both of last season’s first-choice centre-halves, Alex Pearce and Kaspars Gorkss, but Reading’s tactics, which deploy a pair of deep-lying central midfielders in front of their defence, mean the Royals are rarely susceptible to counter-attacks. Unless McDermott decides to change his approach, then, speed at the back is unlikely to be a determining factor when assessing Reading’s likely lineup.
With Gorkss and Pearce at the heart of defence, McDermott’s men racked up 20 clean sheets in 2011/12 – the most of the three promoted sides – and offer Fantasy managers a cut-price option at the back as we look to balance our budgets. From an Fantasy perspective, the ideal scenario would see Mariappa and Gorkss strike up a partnership; both are priced at 4.0 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), while Pearce comes in at 4.5. In the Sky Sports game, it’s a similar situation – Pearce is the most expensive of the trio at 4.2, with Gorkss at 4.1 and Mariappa at a mere 3.8. Intriguingly, Mariappa has started alongside Gorkss against Sheffield Wednesday this evening.
Fortunately, Reading still have plenty of pre-season friendlies for McDermott to trial the various permutations ahead of double Gameweek 1, which sees the club host Stoke before travelling to Chelsea. Aside from the double, Reading’s opening schedule isn’t particularly enticing, though; trips to Sunderland and West Brom, in addition to home clashes against Spurs and Newcastle, may see McDermott’s men struggle to keep out their opponents. Such a run of fixtures may be enough to deter many from investing, allowing us to assess both the likelihood of Mariappa’s game time and Reading’s potential for clean sheets before the fixture list becomes a little kinder.
