New manager Brendan Rodgers is looking forward to getting the best out of Reading's exciting crop of young players - but says that youth alone will not get them into the team and they must have the talent to back it up.

Brendan is fully aware of our young players' attributes, having worked his way right through our youth system, then becoming our Academy Manager before moving to Chelsea in 2004.

While in charge of our youth setup he helped bring in many of our current young squad and said, "There are a few here from my previous time - Alex Pearce, James Henry, Jem Karacan, Hal Robson-Kanu and more.

"They will get an opportunity to be nurtured and brought along, but you have to be good enough.

"They will be given that chance. When I went to Watford I was told that you just couldn't play young players in the Championship, but I had four or five under 21s in the team and they were doing very, very well.

"You have to have a balance though, you can't have a whole team like that.

"Me coming to Reading gives hope to the young players - but what's very, very important is the senior players and the balance they bring to your team."

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