A look back at the career of the Royals’ new goalscorer
If Reading were looking to drum up enthusiasm for a season of Championship football
they couldn’t pick many better things to do than smashing their transfer record
But that’s exactly what the Royals did this week
forking out a reported fee of at least £8 million to land George Pușcaș - one of the more highly rated young strikers in Europe
The striker’s certainly had an interesting career so far
moving from his home country of Romania to Inter Milan
I’ve had a look below at recapping where his time in football has taken him so far
George Alexandru Pușcaș is a 23 year-old centre forward from Romania
he comes from the very northwest of the country - the city of Marghita in Bihor County - which happens to be pretty close to Debrecen in Hungary
Pușcaș’ first two clubs would both be based in the main city of Bihor County: Oradea
a fifth-tier team until they went out of existence in 2017
but he didn’t make a professional appearance before joining second-tier Bihor Oradea on loan in 2012
His break outside Romania came with a move to Inter Milan in 2013 from Liberty although, <a href="https://www.espn.com/soccer/club/internazionale/110/blog/post/2523905/inter-milan-face-big-decision-with-role-of-george-puscas">according to ESPN</a>
Pușcaș’ opening years in Italy were spent playing youth football for Inter Milan Primavera
for whom he netted an impressive 24 goals in 29 league games across the course of the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons
and he was finally given his chance to impress in Serie A by Roberto Mancini in February 2015 when he came off the bench against Sassuolo
Later that month came his first appearance in the Europa League - a cameo at home to Celtic - before he was handed his first start when Inter hosted Parma in April
he would never be given a proper run in the Nerazzurri’s first team
instead being farmed out on loan to various sides in Serie B
before helping Benevento to promotion in 2016/17
Having spent the first half of 2017/18 with the (relegated straight away) Benevento)
when Pușcaș was given the full campaign on loan at Palermo
but the Sicilian side were racked with financial woes off the pitch
As <a href="https://sempreinter.com/2019/07/01/george-puscas-returns-to-inter-with-palermo-on-verge-of-bankruptcy/">Sempre Inter explained</a>, Palermo were due to pay €3 million for the striker but defaulted when they went bust. Nonetheless, <a href="https://sempreinter.com/2019/06/28/romania-under-21-striker-puscas-will-return-to-inter-after-palermo-bankruptcy/">Inter needed to cash in</a> on Pușcaș to stay within Financial Fair Play
and an acceptable one was submitted from Berkshire
Pușcaș has done particularly well at international level too
That particular stint started against Italy (a touch ironically) in August 2014
and has run all the way to June 2019 when he showed his class by being named in the team of the tournament for the under-21 Euros
He played all four of Romania’s games in the competition
the second against England (both those matches being in the group stage)
before he netted a brace in a 4-2 semi-final defeat to Germany
his performances were so impressive that he was the only player from neither finalist side (Germany and Spain) to make the team of the tournament
He was put as the lone striker in an XI that also featured the likes of Arsenal’s Dani Ceballos and Borussia Dortmund’s Mahmoud Dahoud
Not bad, huh? So can he replicate that in Berkshire? Only time will tell but, as our <a href="https://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/2019/8/8/20759422/what-george-puscas-will-bring-to-reading-fc-royals">guest writer Joe Donnohue wrote</a>