Sheffield United's Callum O'Hare (left) and Hull City's Finley Burns (right) battle for the ball during the Sky Bet Championship match at Bramall Lane, Sheffield. Picture date: Friday January 24, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story SOCCER Sheff Utd. Photo _(Image: Mike Egerton)_
This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The Herald.
Reading have confirmed the loan signing of Manchester City defender Finley Burns until the end of the season.
The 22-year-old centre-back signed for the Premier League giants in 2019 for £175,000 and has one first-team appearance to his name, a 6-1 win over Wycombe Wanderers in the Carabao Cup.
Since then, the London-born former Southend United youngster has had loan spells in the Championship and League One.
For 2022/23, he made three appearances for Swansea City in the second tier before making 43 appearances for Stevenage in 2023/24 and 11 appearances for Hull City last season.
During this time he has been a mainstay for Manchester City's youth sides and an England Under-20 international.
He arrives after the signing of fellow central defender Paudie O'Connor. A trialist central defender played for the Royals in Saturday's 5-1 win over Hungerford Town, but Burns signs and should help fill the holes left by Tyler Bindon and Amadou Mbengue.
CEO, Joe Jacobson, spoke of the signing: "Finley signing on loan is a real coup for the Football Club, we're delighted to have secured his signature against stiff competition.
"We'd like to thank Manchester City for trusting us and our Coaching Team to develop and improve their player, and hopefully this will be the start of a fruitful relationship between the clubs."
First Team Manager, Noel Hunt, commented: "We're delighted to bring Finley to the club, he has all round quality and a couple of really good loans over the last couple of years.
"His attitude is second to none and comes from a great calibre of an Academy at City and has grown in stature but getting appearances in the Championship last season. In the games he played he carried himself very well, and we're really positive."