Reading decision could influence Jeff Hendrick’s Newcastle future – opinion

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Newcastle United will have been hoping for Reading to sign Jeff Hendrick permanently this summer, but that suddenly feels a lot less likely.

Hendrick left Newcastle to join the Royals at the start of the season, brought in on loan by Paul Ince. But with just fives games to go in the Championship season, the midfielder is no longer working under the former Manchester United midfielder.

That is because Reading have decided to sack Ince. They were beaten 2-1 by Preston on Monday, and sit 22nd in the league. They could suffer relegation to League One, and have now taken action.

Ince’s replacement has already been confirmed, with Noel Hunt set to take charge for the rest of the season. He is the man tasked with keeping Reading in the Championship.

But regardless of whether or not the stay up, Hendrick’s chances of staying at the Select Car Leasing Stadium may have gone down.

Paul Ince wanted to keep Jeff Hendrick at Reading

Ince recently spoke about Hendrick’s future with Reading, and admitted that he would like to sign the 31-year-old permanently if given the opportunity. He described Hendrick as the ‘ultimate pro’, and laid out his intentions to work with him again if they avoided relegation.

That sounded ideal for Newcastle, who reportedly plan to get rid of the Republic of Ireland international. He has no future at St James’ Park, and the club will be desperate to get him off the books as soon as possible. His current Newcastle contract, worth £50,000-a-week, expires in the summer of 2024.

Doing a deal with Reading sounded like the perfect solution, with Ince very open about his desire to sign Hendrick. However, that is no longer a possibility with the 55-year-old suddenly relieved of his duties.

There is no guarantee that whoever comes in ahead of next season will want to sign Hendrick, while they continue to be threatened by relegation. They sit in the bottom three with fives games to go, and look very likely to drop into the third tier of English football.

Relegation will definitely rule out a return to Reading for Hendrick, but that is already up in the air following Ince’s departure.