Vote For Your January 2025 Reading Player Of The Month

07/02/2025 09:56

Which of these five chaps gets your vote?

January was an odd month for Reading in that, despite being a busy one on the pitch with six games played in all competitions, it was what happened away from the matchday action that took precedence. We were often more fixated on which players would be sold than on which would come up with a big performance on a Saturday.

Those six games didn't go so well for Reading. Though 2025 kicked off excellently with a 3-1 win at Cambridge United and continued well with a creditable 0-0 at Charlton Athletic, the Royals were dumped out of the cup by Burnley (3-1 AET) before losing three on the spin. Stockport County emerged 3-1 winners at the SCL before Reading fell to away defeats at Leyton Orient (2-0) and Burton Albion (3-2).

It'll probably be no surprise to you that Reading's overall performances, going by our player ratings, stack up poorly. In fact, the 5.18/10 average just about 'beats' September's 5.20 into being the worst month performance-wise of the season.

Some players stood out for good reasons though, and we'd like to know who you thought was the best of the bunch.

First a quick recap of the winners so far. Ben Elliott won in both August and September, with Amadou Mbengue coming out on top in October, Harvey Knibbs in November and, most recently, Tyler Bindon in December. The young defender romped home to victory with 71% of the vote, well ahead of Joel Pereira (11%), Amadou Mbengue and Lewis Wing (9% each) and Mamadi Camara (1%).

Tyler Bindon

Average rating: 6.33 / Man of the match awards: 1st (Burnley H), 2nd (Stockport County H), 1st (Leyton Orient A)

Bindon continued where he left off in December with some solid performances in January, again looking like a consistent performer despite how well the rest of the team performed. His average rating is the highest of anyone in the squad, and he was the only player to manage more than one MOTM win.

Harlee Dean

Average rating: 6.17 / Man of the match awards: 2nd (Cambridge United A), 1st (Charlton Athletic A), 3rd (Stockport County H)

Bindon's centre-back partner Dean was similarly solid, deputising well for the injured Amadou Mbengue. January was quite the comeback month for him, given just how cut out of the first-team picture he'd been, but he started every game, earned a MOTM award in the Royals' only clean sheet of the month, and turned provider at Burton with a header to set up Smith's equaliser.

Joel Pereira

Average rating: 6.20 / Man of the match awards: 3rd (Cambridge United A), 3rd (Charlton Athletic A), 2nd (Leyton Orient A)

Pereira's been a consistent performer between the posts for Reading this season and January was no different. He helped the Royals stay in two potentially tricky away games at the start of the month and kept the score down somewhat at Orient and Burton.

Charlie Savage

Average rating: 6.00 / Man of the match awards: 2nd (Charlton Athletic A), 1st (Burton Albion A)

Another eye-catching month from a player who was probably the most consistent of all Reading's non-defensive players, Savage has become an important energetic box-to-box player in this side. It might just be me, but his deliveries also seem to be improving, with that being noticeable against Orient and Burton. One came up with the goods against Stockport though, with Smith converting Savage's free-kick.

Sam Smith

Average rating: 5.67 / Man of the match awards: 1st (Stockport County H), 3rd (Leyton Orient A), 3rd (Burton Albion A)

Probably not his best month of the season all round, but January was still a decent one in front of goal for the now-Wrexham player. Smith scored an absolute beauty on New Year's Day to put Reading's trip to Cambridge to bed, before netting with less spectacular finishes in games that would end in defeat (Stockport, Burton).

Vote

Who's your POTM for January 2025? Vote below or through this link.