Speaking to Teesside Live, Middlesbrough manager Jonathan Woodgate has admitted that Reading’s summer signing George Puscas caught his eye in the summer while he was watching the Under-21s sides of England and Romania face off in the Under-21s European Championships.
Reading’s swoop for striker George Puscas in a reported £7.5 million transfer from Inter Milan in the summer transfer window caught the attention of many given his impressive goalscoring exploits in the Under-21s European Championships for Romania, in which he netted four goals in four games.
The 23-year-old has started like at the Madejski Stadium strongly as well, scoring three goals in six games across all competitions. Now, speaking ahead of Boro’s clash with Reading, manager Jonathan Woodgate has praised Puscas, saying he caught his attention in the summer.
“Reading are going to be a good side moving forward. They spent a lot of money, especially on Puscas and Joao. I actually saw Puscas in the summer watching the Under-21s in Italy in the Euros.
“I went to the game, England versus Romania, I was watching a few players from Romania. I saw Puscas straight away, he was on loan last year at Palermo from Inter Milan, (he’s) a really top player.”
The Boro boss went on to say that Puscas is the kind of player that he would have liked to be able to bring to the Riverside Stadium, before admitting that the striker was too much for the club’s transfer budget.
“To bring him here we’d have had to spend a lot of money. We couldn’t do that type of deal. Reading have done it, fair play – he’s a very very good player.”
