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We are delighted to announce that Tom Ince has put pen to paper on a three-year deal with Reading Football Club, an agreement which will see him become a permanent member of the Royals squad when his Stoke City contract expires at the end of this month.
Ince, who joined the Royals on loan at the end of January - the day after his 30th birthday - last season, started in 15 fixtures in Royals colours and got his name on the scoresheet twice. His first – a goal-of-the-season contender – earned us a valuable point away at Bournemouth, his second triggered the incredible fightback in our 4-4 home draw with Swansea City on Easter Monday.
Ince’s arrival comes off the back of new contracts for Andy Yiadom and Tom Holmes as well as the loan signing of goalkeeper Joe Lumley last week, as we look to reset as a club and rebuild our squad ahead of a brand new 2022-23 campaign in the Championship.
Head of Football Operations, Mark Bowen, said “An honest, mature and vastly experienced professional, Tom’s drive and determination combined with his undoubted class and ability played an essential part in helping to steer this club away from danger in the final third of 2021-22.
“Working at the same club as his dad, a manager he has played under before, Tom knows precisely what will be expected of him and I am confident he will play an important part in 2022-23 and beyond as a Royal. I’m very pleased he has made a firm commitment to this fantastic club.”
Having come through the youth ranks at Liverpool, it was in the Championship with Blackpool that Ince first began making waves. A goalscorer at Wembley at the end of his first full season as the Tangerines missed out on promotion at the hands of West Ham, he would go on to make 113 appearances and score 33 times in all competitions over the course of just over two years.
His first taste of Premier League football came when he linked up with Crystal Palace on loan for the second half of the 2013-14 campaign – and he scored 15 minutes into his top-tier debut in a 3-1 win against West Bromwich Albion.
Ince went on to join Hull City that summer, whom he represented in the Premier League and Europa League, before becoming one of few players to play for rivals Nottingham Forest and Derby County in the same season. He would spend two seasons as a permanent player at Pride Park, before another top-flight spell with a single season at Huddersfield Town.
The attacker had been on the books with Stoke City since 2018 before he joined the Royals last January – his appearances in a Reading shirt took his career total to 425 games and 94 goals.
Royals boss Paul Ince said: “Thomas is my son. But, importantly, he is a Reading player the moment he arrives at the training ground every morning. His talent has always spoken for itself and he is a very good character to have in your dressing room. He still wants to improve, he still wants to succeed and he proved his worth here at Reading in the latter stages of last season. So I am very pleased he has now committed the next three years of his career to this club.”
