BRIAN McDermott is aiming to trim his Reading FC squad over the summer, writes Anthony Smith.

Royals have 34 first-team players on their books, but six – Matej Vydra, Michael Hector, Lucas Piazon, Ola John, Andrew Taylor and Alex Fernandez – are likely to return to their parent clubs at the end of the season.

Hal Robson-Kanu and Anton Ferdinand are also facing uncertain futures as their contracts expire in June, when they will become free agents.

Nevertheless, it is clear McDermott is eager to whittle down his squad.

“If your squad is too big it's not easy to manage,” he explained.

“Everybody wants to play, but you have to manage those who aren't in the team and treat them with the same respect.

“Steve Coppell never had massive squads, even the year we went up to the Premier League in 2006.

“If you go back to the first day of pre-season that season, no word of a lie but we only had 10 players.

“We'd just signed Kevin Doyle and Shane Long, but Marcus Hahnemann was a way so we didn't even have a goalie.

“But that was the year we got promoted. I turned out okay.”

McDermott revealed he has the backing of Reading's Thai owners following 'very encouraging' talks with 25% stakeholder Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth last week.

Royals have been heavily linked with Oxford City's attacking midfielder, Kemar Roofe, and Barnsley winger, Adam Hammill.

Real Valladolid midfielder, Juan Villar, is another possible target, while McDermott will make a decision soon over Dutch defender Danzell Gravenberch after the 22-year-old FC Dordrecht player spent a week on trial recently.

However, it appears McDermott is confident he already has the makings of a strong team.

“Generally speaking, not much transfer business happens early, so we'll see what happens over the summer,” he stressed.

“But I'm already encouraged by the players I have now.”

McDermott is expecting big things from the club's Academy graduates when they return from their own loan spells.

Dominic Samuel (Gillingham), Tariqe Fosu (Accrington), Craig Tanner (Plymouth) and Jack Stacey (Carlisle) are all gaining valuable experience of regular league football, with some still fighting for promotion or play-off qualification.

Royals have also appointed Reading-born Hayden Mullins to oversee the development of the club's loaned-out players.

McDermott added: “We want our youngsters to come to the fore, that's why we loaned them out, so they come back here and play for us.

“We've brought in Hayden Mullins to go out and watch our loan players and talk to them and their managers to make sure they're okay.”

Reading's Player of the Season will be unveiled before Saturday's 3pm kick off against Preston North End at Madejski Stadium.

Ali Al Habsi, Oliver Norwood, Paul McShane and Hal Robson-Kanu are believed to be among the leading contenders.