'Joke' - Fresh claim made as Reading FC react to £500k Oxford United bid for Charlie Savage | OneFootball

Charlie Savage has been linked with a transfer to Oxford United from Reading FC.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Reading FC have rejected Oxford United's bid for Charlie Savage, with the Championship outfit looking to strengthen their chances of survival by taking the 22-year-old from their rivals.

Football Insider revealed that a £500,000 bid has been rejected by Reading, with his side valuing him a lot higher than that. To add further to this Oxford, Reading, and Swindon Town are all huge rivals in that part of the UK, too.

However, with Swindon flying high in League Two and Oxford in the relegation zone in the Championship, the trio could each find themselves in League One in 2026/27.

That's also if Reading's excellent form doesn't continue as well. Leam Richardson, Savage and co. have won six of 10 league games since his appointment, including a further two draws. They have shot up the table and into play-off contention.

Given their position, we spoke with FLW’s Reading fan pundit Johnny Hunt regarding Savage. With the low offer rejected, we asked what would be required for Reading to sell this month.

He said: "Yeah, wow, selling anyone to Oxford is a bad move if you're a Reading fan. But half a million for Charlie Savage is a joke.

"I think Leam Richardson's come out and said we're not a selling club, which is good to hear. We need to keep our better players.

"And, you know, after the last number of years where we've had to sell players and move players on to deal with the financial issues of the club, we don't need to be in that position again.

"It's not a question of whether I want to sell, because there will be money owed to Man United as part of the transfer fee. I'd rather keep Charlie; he's a brilliant player for us.

"He loves playing for the club. If you were going to sell him, it would have to be over a million, maybe £2 million at least. That's not even a thing I want to happen.

"He's a Reading player. We need to keep players like that if we want to get out of League One. He'd be a good player for us in the Championship as well.

"It's a no-go for me. Keep our best players and look at getting others in to complement the squad."

At just 22, Savage is a player with plenty of potential. However, he has a contract until 2027 and that is one concern for Reading.

The volume of games played at his age is impressive, with League One developing the Welshman nicely. His next career move is surely to the Championship to test himself at a higher level.