Reading have just confirmed their first signing of the summer, Andy Yiadom from Barnsley on a four-year contract. The 26-year-old has put pen to paper and is due to arrive at the Madejski Stadium after the completion of his contract at Oakwell.
Reading manager Paul Clement was delighted to announce the arrival of the player as he said, “I’m very happy that Andy is joining Reading as my first signing. He is someone that I’ve known for a while, and whose progress I was tracking when I was at Swansea. Andy comes here with valuable experience of the Championship – he’s a good age at 26, and he has the right desires and ambitions which will help us to move forward with this club.”
Yiadom has served Barnsley for two seasons, racking up 33 appearances this season and 66 in total. He has captained the team in the 2017/18 campaign only to see the team go down to the League One following their 22nd place finish in the EFL Championship.
Yiadom has worked his way up the English divisions with hard work and dogged determination. He developed his game in the youth ranks of Watford but was never offered a professional contract. The Ghanaian had to find refuge in a Conference Premier Club, Hayes And Yeading United where he got his first start at senior team football. A season later he moved on to the newly promoted Braintree Town, while still a teenager and later to League Two side, Barnet.
It was with the Bees where he started to make headway into the professional sphere of English football, making his debut on 18th February 2012 against Shrewsbury Town and totalling over 170 appearances over the course of 4 seasons. He scored 8 times in his last season to earn a move away to Barnsley in the summer of 2016.
Yiadom was already a force to be reckoned with and was ready to take on whatever challenge was thrown at him. He helped Barnsley earn promotion in his debut season by forcing his way up to the first team and earning a call-up to the senior team of his home nation.
The 26-year-old has already been capped twice by Ghana and is one of the best fullbacks to have come out of the Championship with great leadership pedigree. He commands the backline with his discipline and also helps out the team’s offence while making his overlapping runs.
Nabbing him up for free is one of the best decisions made by Reading which, in turn, will definitely help them make an improved run in the Championship next season.
