ALI Al-Habsi has extended his contact at Reading FC by another two years.

The 35-year-old goalkeeper has agreed a new contract until summer 2019 after his present deal was due to expire at the end of this season.

Manager Jaap Stam is delighted to keep hold of the Oman international and current Player of the Season for another two years following rumours of recent interest from Premier League clubs.

Stam beamed: “As we all know, Ali is a great goalkeeper, a fine shot stopper with good reactions.

"Even at this stage in his career he is still improving his game and becoming better and better as a player.

"He is very calm on the ball which is important to us, especially in the way we want to play out from the back.

"And just as important to this group is that Ali is a great person with a very good mentality. So we are all very happy that he has signed another deal."

Al-Habsi joined Reading in 2015 on a two-year deal and quickly established himself as the club's No.1 stopper.

The former Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic keeper has put in a string of outstanding performance this season to help Reading climb to third in the Championship table.

Royals chief executive Nigel Howe added: "As our supporters have witnessed, Ali is a fantastic goalkeeper and his performances in the last year and a half have certainly merited this new contract at the club.

"As both a professional and a person, he is a real credit to our club and I am very pleased he has agreed to this new deal.”