Goalkeeper Virginia won the Premier League 2 title but he’s had a miserable time in the Championship with Mark Bowen’s Royals.
Everton goalkeeper Joao Virginia has had a season to forget at Reading. And even Royals manager Mark Bowen has admitted, via GetReading, that things haven’t gone to plan for the young Portuguese at the Madejski Stadium.
At the age of just 20, perhaps we expected too much too soon from a shot-stopper who had not made a single senior appearance until the start of this season.
But after helping Everton win the Premier League 2 title for the second time in three years, Virginia had earned his reputation as one of the most exciting goalkeeping prospects on English shores and a season-long spell at Reading was supposed to be the making of him.
Horrible mistakes in his first two games for the Royals, against Hull and Sheffield Wednesday, meant the honeymoon period ended pretty quickly however and Virginia hasn’t been seen in the Championship since August, losing his place to former Napoli number one Rafael Cabral.
The Liverpool Echo reports that Everton have the option to terminate Virginia’s loan in January and that might be best for both parties.
“There’s no point hiding from it – it hasn’t gone well for him,” said Bowen. “Do we keep him or do they call him back – these are all things which will resolve themselves in the next few weeks.
“I can’t speak highly enough of him as a professional but coming in at 19 it was a big ask to come in as a starter week in, week out. We’re aware it hasn’t gone well for him but I’m sure it will resolve itself either way in the next few weeks.”
Maybe the best solution would be to bring Virginia back and then keep him in the U23s for the rest of the season, giving the former Benfica and Arsenal stopper the chance to rebuild his confidence and match sharpness before sending him out on loan again next summer.
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