AFC Bournemouth striker Lewis Grabban has joined Championship side Reading on loan.
Grabban first made the move to Dean Court on 31st May 2012 when he joined from League Two side Rotherham United for a fee in the region of £300,000.
Grabban had spent just one season with Rotherham after moving from Brentford. He scored 18 goals in League Two making him the joint top goalscorer for the 2011/12 season.
During his first season with the Cherries he scored 13 goals in 47 appearances as AFC Bournemouth won promotion from League One.
After scoring just once in his opening 11 appearances, he scored his next 12 goals over 22 games before failing to score over the final 14 fixtures.
He almost joined Brighton in January 2014 when the Seagulls triggered a reported £1million release clause, however he signed a new deal with AFC Bournemouth to see out the rest of the 2013/14 season. Grabban became the clubs leading scorer in the second tier of English football scoring 22 goals as AFC Bournemouth finished the Championship in a record high 10th place.
He later left the Cherries when Norwich triggered an improved release clause in his contract in June 2014, for an undisclosed fee reportedly in the region of £3million.
He scored five times in his first five games for Norwich and played his part in the sides promotion to the Premier League via a Wembley Play-Off victory.
During the summer of 2015 he was the subject of four failed bids by the Cherries and it appeared that Grabban wanted a return to AFC Bournemouth and reportedly went AWOL following a failed bid by the Cherries.
Grabban was later suspended by Norwich and never returned on a regular basis to the first team fold, ending his Norwich career with 13 goals in 41 appearances, with his final goal coming against Arsenal.
He returned to AFC Bournemouth for an undisclosed fee on 11th January 2015, which was reportedly in-excess of £6million according to Mark McAdam from Sky Sports.
He made 22 appearances for the Cherries scoring just once during his most recent spell at Dean Court.
Reading Chief Executive Nigel Howe told readingfc.co.uk…
“I am delighted that we have been able to add some extra fire power to the squad in the form of a proven goalscorer like Lewis. And I am very pleased that a striker in such high demand chose to come to join the Royals.”
Really happy to have joined @ReadingFC on loan for the rest of the season. Looking forward to playing and chasing this promotion 🙏🏽🙌🏾
? Lewis Grabban (@grabbs22) 31 January 2017
Your Say… – Join the conversation here.
It’s easy to join AFCB Vital
Sign up and have your say on the articles, polls and forums, just click the link to register.
