United midfield man heads out on loan by Royals appointment
NEWCASTLE United midfielder Jeff Hendrick has joined Reading on a season-long loan deal.
The Ireland international has struggled for game time under Eddie Howe and spent part of last season on loan with Championship side QPR.
Hendrick was left behind as the Magpies jetted out to Austria earlier this week after being told to train with the reserves in recent days. He will now link up with former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Ince in the Championship.
The 30-year-old made 27 appearances for Newcastle after arriving on a free in 2020.
However, the player recently admitted he felt his time on Tyneside could be coming to an end.
“I don’t know if it will be a fresh start,” Hendrick said last month while on international duty.
“Newcastle have done really well and brought some good players in, and I can admit their midfield is very strong with the additions in January.
“I’m not the club, I’m not doing the buying or whatever, but I’d imagine they will strengthen the whole squad again in the summer.
“For me it’s about being realistic and being prepared that I might need to go somewhere else for games. I have two years left at Newcastle.
“For me, I’m ready to go back on July 1 and start training and if I need to go and get games, I will do that. It’s something I want to do, I always want to play games and I’ll wait and see.”
Quizzed on whether he had played his last game for Newcastle, the Irishman responded: “Yeah, I’d say it’s a possibility. Things can change, football is crazy like that, but it’s a strong possibility, we’ll have to wait and see.”
Ciaran Clark is expected to follow Hendrick out of the door after also struggling for game time in recent months. The defender is set to have a medical at Sheffield United this week.
Howe is determined to trim his squad after taking 29 players to Austria this week. Dwight Gayle is another first-team star expected to leave before the end of the summer.