OFFICIAL: Jeff Hendrick to spend next season on loan at Reading

After Ciaran Clark got officially loaned to Sheffield United earlier this week, it’s now time for Jeff Hendrick to move on from the Magpies and join FC Reading on another season-long loan sealed by Newcastle. The club made it official on the team’s website and Hendrick has already joined his new, Championship-level club in time for the 2022/23 season.

Hendrick, who turned 30 last January, is under contract for two more seasons with his deal expiring in the summer of 2024. He will return to Tyneside by the end of next season after spending a year donning Reading’s threads in the second-tier of English club football. Transfermarkt reports a fee of €5 million was paid by Reading to secure the services of the central midfielder on this season-long loan.

The Irish midfielder is coming off a campaign in which he split time between Newcastle and QPR, where he played from January until the end of the 2021/22 season on another loan deal. Hendrick arrived in Tyneside ahead of the 2020/21 season on a free after spending one season in Burnley, and Newcastle has surely reaped some rewards given QPR’s and Reading’s payments to get the loan deals completed.

Eddie Howe’s arrival was extraordinary for Newcastle as a whole but not so much for Hendrick, who got no chances at finding his way toward steadily contributing to the team. That fostered the loan to QPR, and with Howe staying in tow it was always obvious to sell or at least loan him away for another season.

Hendrick is closing his time in Newcastle with 27 games played and three goals scored in them. Now part of the Thames club, Hendrick will look into rebuilding his value after a rough last few months in which his best play could be seen more on the international level than the club one. Hendrick has been a regular performer for the Republic of Ireland since debuting all the way back in 2013 under Giovanni Trappatoni. He’s appeared in 74 games while scoring a couple of bangers for his nation.

Here’s hoping Hendrick regains his footballing mojo while playing for Reading before he returns to St James Park in a year’s time!