Reading of England’s new signing, Ovie Ejaria has been described as a young player with rare and exceptional quality, all of which his new club’s coach, Mark Bowen believes will help the Nigerian-born lad add more value to the team this season, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although Ejaria failed to stamp his feet on solid ground during a long-running contract with Liverpool of England, from where he was previously loaned to Glasgow Rangers of Scotland before moving to Reading in a similar deal last season, Bowen believes the former Golden Eaglets’ invitee will help his side enact better results this time out.
Speaking in the wake of Ejaria’s full transfer from the English Premier League champions, in a deal that is expected to run until summer 2024, Bowen recalled that the dark-skinned lad showed his depth of talent and quality during two spells on loan with The Royals.
He added that everyone at Reading is happy to finally hook the 22-year-old midfielder, who padded through Arsenal’s academy before joining Liverpool in 2016 and went on to get eight senior appearances with The Reds, including three FA Cup starts.
Prior to his first spell at Reading in 2018-19, Ejaria went out on loan to Sunderland and Rangers, after which he got 54 appearances for Reading during his time with the club and Bowen noted that the former England youth international has already revealed good signs for the upcoming campaign during ongoing pre-season training.
The coach further enthused that London-born Ejaria, who had a previous loan spell with The Royals during the 2018/19 season, during which he made 16 appearances then got 39 games for them last term in the English Championship club, will again be able to display the form that saw him emerge as part of England’s FIFA U-20 World Cup winning team in 2017.
The Reading gaffer admitted he and the club’s top echelon are expecting a lot more from the former Arsenal Academy player, who joined Liverpool at the age of 16 and recently expressed a view that he could switch international allegiance to play for Nigeria at full senior level.
Bowen retorted: “Naturally, everybody at the club is delighted to have got this transfer over the line and it is a deal our owner, Mr Dai (Dai Yongge), was very keen to see completed as soon as was possible.
“Ovie has shown everyone his exceptional quality in the time he has spent here on loan and I’m sure all our supporters are excited to see him continue to impress as a Royal during the course of the next four years.”
