Exclusive: Crystal Palace hope to emulate Michael Olise swoop, face Tottenham battle for 'incredible' wonderkid

Today at 06:45 AM

Reading face a battle hanging onto teen sensation Andre Garcia during the January transfer window with Premier League clubs Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Crystal Palace and Chelsea watching closely.

• Exclusive from Graeme Bailey

Despite only making his first-team debut in August, and still only 16 years of age, the talented left-back is already a first-team regular with The Royals.

Andre Garcia started seven successive League One games in Reading colours before the November international break.

And unsurprisingly – it is not every day one so young finds himself on the team sheet week in, week out – Garcia’s flying start to professional football has not gone unnoticed in the divisions above.

TBR can confirm that more than a dozen clubs are scouting Garcia on a regular basis. Among them are Premier League giants Tottenham, Manchester City and Chelsea, plus a Crystal Palace side renowned for snapping up the most exciting teenage talents in the EFL.

Crystal Palace face Tottenham and Man City battle for Andre Garcia

Much to the credit of their highly-admired sporting director Dougie Freedman, Crystal Palace have made Selhurst Park fertile ground for the best homegrown talents in UK football.

Michael Olise earned a £50 million move to Bayern Munich just three years after swapping Reading for Palace, with Garcia now in contention to follow in his footsteps. The Eagles also snapped up Engalnd internationals Ebere Eze from Queens Park Rangers and Adam Wharton from Blackburn Rovers.

And while Marc Guehi joined Palace from London neighbours Chelsea, it was his excellent loan spell at Swansea City which really caught Freedman’s eye.

TBR understands that Crystal Palace are watching Sunderland’s Jobe Bellingham as well, having been linked over the summer.

While Tottenham, Man City and Chelsea may have deeper pockets than Crystal Palace, the success of Eze, Wharton and particularly Royals graduate Olise should strengthen their hand.

TBR understands that Andre Garcia has no shortage of interest from outside of the UK too. Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen, Marseille and Europa League holders Atalanta are among his admirers.

As are a Borussia Dortmund side who snapped up Jude Bellingham from Birmingham City in 2020. Dortmund like Sunderland whizzkid Chris Rigg too, with he and Bellingham both in high demand.

Reading starlet Andre Garcia has ‘an incredible future’

“[Garcia’s] future is in his own hands. He can be whatever he wants to be,” Reading legend Mick Gooding tells BBC Radio Berkshire. “To be 16 and playing the way he is playing is incredible.

“What a future he has got, and it's in his hands if he listens and works hard. He has got pace, great feet. You can see he is really enjoying what he is doing, not fazed by it.

“He has got an incredible future, should he decide that it is what he wants to do. [Garcia must] work hard, stay humble and do the right things. He can go wherever he wants.”

Ruben Selles, the former Southampton coach who has impressed in very difficult circumstances at perennial crisis-club Reading, initially felt that Garcia’s role would be as a winger. However, The Royals’ number 30 has now made the left-back role his own, adapting excellently to a more defensive-minded position.

“We don't look at the age of the players,” Selles told reporters in October. “He surprised us in a training game when he came in as a left-back.

“We have young talented players. As long as they have the qualities to play for Reading, we are not scared to play them on the pitch.”