Chalobah joins Royals

Last updated : 22 January 2015 By Tony Scholes

He's joined Reading until the end of the season having been blocked from joining Bordeaux because of the FIFA rules preventing a player playing for three top flight clubs in one season. He made four substitute appearances for us and also included are his under-21 league appearances for Chelsea.

The midfielder is well known to Reading boss Steve Clarke from Clarke's time at Chelsea, and he said: "Nathaniel is a good young player who I have known about and followed for some time.

"He burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old when he was part of the Watford tram that narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League in 2012/13. Since that season, he has gained experience at other clubs and now feels that Reading is the right club to further his development as a player and we are delighted that he has chosen us ahead of anyone else.

"He will certainly enhance our already strong midfield department with his qualities. We welcome Nathaniel to the club and look forward to him playing his part in a more successful second half of the season."

He will now spend the remainder of the season at the Madejski Stadium and will hope to break into their side, something he was unable to do at Burnley during his four months with us when he made just four substitute appearances, the last of them at Arsenal at the beginning of November.