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Jordan Obita is set to miss the rest of this season as his injury nightmare continues.
The academy graduate and former player of the season injured his knee during a Championship clash against Hull City in September 2017 and has not returned since.
Obita, 25, has undergone surgery and travelled to Philadelphia for rehab earlier this season, but that has not solved the problem.
“He will wait one more week and then he will decide, together with a specialist, if he needs to be operated on again or not,” said Reading boss Jose Gomes.
“He had a setback. He will not play this season.”
Left-back Obita is part of a seven-man injury list, with the same septet also missing last weekend’s win against Nottingham Forest.
Paul McShane and Callum Harriott are both back in training, but not yet ready to return to the squad, while Yakou Meite, Saeid Ezatolahi, Sam Baldock and John O’Shea are all still injured.
Vito Mannone, Marc McNulty and David Meyler are all fit, but out of favour.
Anssi Jaakkola outlines changes made by Jose Gomes, including a mobile phone ban
Gomes also confirmed that striker Andrija Novakovich will not be recalled from his loan spell at Fortuna Sittard and that there are no plans to send Ezatolahi back to FC Rostov, saying “it’s not correct to send a player back who is injured”.
There are no new injury concerns from the 2-0 victory against Forest, meaning Gomes could name an unchanged side for this Saturday’s trip to Derby County (3pm).
He also says the club are still working to bring in more players, but would not specify in which position they are looking to strengthen.
“Nothing is close yet,” said Gomes.
“I never mentioned a striker. We are working very hard to bring the players that we need. Our board of directors are trying to arrange the best solutions with the limit we have in front of us that is Financial Fair Play.
“I think in a couple of days we can have good news.”
“Everything is linked. When you talk about FFP, if you have to pay the salary of 40 players and you have a limit of how much money you can spend, you must find somehow the way to bring in more players.”
