Oxford united FC
Oxford United advance to sign Reading FC transfer target
Oxford United are looking to secure the services of Colchester United forward Kyreece Lisbie with the club having met with the player, our sister paper The Reading Chronicle understands.
This comes after sources close to the player said that Posh are leading the race to sign the winger over the summer, with Reading hesitant to meet Colchester United’s valuation.
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It is understood that Oxford United, Reading FC, Peterborough United and an unnamed Championship club are all after the winger’s signature.
Oxford United held interest in the winger in January but were blocked alongside Reading FC from signing the player but Colchester United’s chairman.
The Posh’s interest in securing Colchester United’s Kyreece Lisbie’s services have been widely reported, with his twin brother Kyrell flourishing under manager Luke Williams – with Kyrell scoring 14 goals and registering seven assists.
Peterborough United have been ‘pushing hard’ to secure the services of the winger in the summer transfer window, but the player sees Reading FC as the ideal move for his career.
An estimated fee of between £500-750K is Colchester’s current asking price – the deal fell through at the last minute when it was revealed that Colchester United decided against selling the player.
Kyreece won the Young Player of the Year award at Colchester’s end of season awards last week – with the winger scoring 11 goals and registering eight assists across all competitions.
The winger got his first taste of senior football for Cray Valley, and signed for Watford in 2021 before moving to Brentford less than a year later.
The 22-year-old signed a permanent contract with Colchester in 2025 from Premier League side Brentford’s B team until the the summer of 2027.
The U’s finished 22nd in the Championship and were relegated with two games remaining after a tough second season in the second tier.
Oxford will be looking to bounce back next season under head coach Matt Bloomfield who oversaw an upturn in form since his January arrival but was unable to achieve Championship survival.
Last Boxing Day, the Yellows beat Le Tissier’s former side Saints 2-1 despite it since being revealed that the visitors were spying on Oxford in the lead up to the game.
The U’s had sacked Gary Rowett only three days prior to that game and were under the caretaker leadership of Craig Short.
“[Southampton] had a tough time going to Oxford, they beat us on Boxing Day this season, and they’ve got a decent enough squad there to compete for promotion,” the eight-time England international observed.
“They didn’t disgrace themselves in the Championship, so I don’t see there’s any reason why they shouldn’t feel like they can be challenging at the top end again.
“A lot of it’s down to what players they get to keep.
“It’s a difficult one. A lot has to do with the finances, really. Whether or not you keep your players isn’t down to whether the player wants to stay or not, first and foremost. It’s down to can we afford to pay his wages? And without knowing the ins and outs of Oxford’s wage bill, it’s kind of difficult to assess that at the moment.”
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Oxford were relegated alongside Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday.
Next year’s third tier looks a difficult one to call at present with the summer transfer window set to tell a lot about which clubs will really push for promotion next term.
The U’s go down with a good core of players but will need to trim the dead weight if they are to balance the books and add some extra quality.
“It’d be difficult for me to assess that without kind of going through the squads, and seeing and essentially knowing the budget of each team that’s in that league, and I think if that was actually published at the start of the season, then I think that would make it quite interesting,” Le Tissier continued.
“Take a look at the, take a look at the odds that the bookmakers are offering, and you’ll pretty much know who’s got the biggest budgets available to them. And then you kind of mix that with how good the manager is, and then you kind of decide from there.”
Quotes courtesy of Midnite.
The U’s were relegated last season after finishing 22nd and return to the third tier after two years in the Championship.
The club released ten players at the end of the campaign upon the expiry of their contracts, including first-team regulars Przemyslaw Placheta and Hidde ter Avest.
There is work to be done in deciding to futures of fringe players such as Siriki Dembele, Peter Kioso, and Greg Leigh, but there is also expected to be interest in some of the more standout squad members.
Michal Helik
An experienced Championship centre back having played over 200 second-tier matches, Helik will likely garner interest from England and abroad.
The Pole was crucial in helping the U’s stay in the division last season under Gary Rowett and, despite not having quite the same impact this term, has reportedly already drawn interest the Championship and Polish league.
Sources in Poland confirmed that Helik has a release clause in his contract following United’s relegation which is reportedly in the region of £650,000.
The 30-year-old has been relegated from the Championship twice before with both Barnsley and Huddersfield Town both times managed to secure transfer moves back to the second tier with the Terriers and then Oxford.
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Brian De Keersmaecker
After being widely-recognised as the Yellows’ best player as the team struggled in the first half of the season, De Keersmaecker has already drawn admirers from elsewhere despite only arriving in OX4 last summer.
The Belgian picked up a shoulder injury in January and opted to have surgery which ended his season early.
Despite this, De Keersmaecker impressed during his time in a yellow shirt and was recently linked to second-tier side Derby County by reporter Alan Nixon.
The former Heracles Almelo midfielder scored his only goal for the U’s in a 2-1 defeat to Preston North End in December and managed five assists in his 28 appearances.
Stan Mills
Mills won both the Supporters’ Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year awards for Oxford this season after a standout year in yellow.
The 22-year-old was a consistently impressive performer on the right flank, bursting into life under Matt Bloomfield in the second half of the campaign.
He will no doubt have admirers from the Championship and so it is down to the club as to the size of the price tag on his head this summer.
It feels like a win-win regarding Mills, with the U’s either earning good money for a sale or keeping a player who will no doubt take League One by storm.
The U’s will compete in the third tier of English football next season after suffering relegation from the Championship this term, finishing 22nd in the league and four points from safety.
With their relegation, the club will naturally take a financial hit which, with a new stadium and upgrades to the academy in the pipeline, will be a challenge for the U’s to navigate.
Last week, the EFL confirmed changes to the Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP) rules in League One and League Two.
In a statement, the EFL stated: “League One Clubs approved changes to the existing Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP) rules, with the aim of reducing losses and the reliance on owner funding in the division.
“The long-standing SCMP rules limit spending on player wages to a percentage of a club’s turnover.”
The changes mean that clubs in League One will now only be able to spend 50 per cent of their turnover on wages, compared to the 60 per cent previously permitted.
However, the rules differ for clubs relegated from the Championship who will be able to 65 per cent of turnover on wages, compared a previous 75 per cent.
In addition to these rules, the EFL also confirmed further updates: “League One clubs also approved a change to remove the staggered approach to equity injections in the division, meaning that all equity injections will be included within the calculation at 50%.
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“As an example, this means that if an owner invests £500k into the club, a maximum of £250k (in addition to that already permitted as a percentage of turnover) can be spent on wages.
“This approach is intended to encourage investment into other areas of club operations, such as infrastructure and youth development.”
Speaking on BBC Radio Oxford’s podcast The Dub, EFL pundit and Oxford United fan, George Elek, reviewed the changes.
“It transpires that this has been in the works for quite a long time and that this won’t be a shock to anybody at the club,” Elek said.
“I’m sure that early budgetary conversations had factored this in. This wasn’t one of those things that suddenly came out of nowhere to impact everything.
“It might mean that trying to get back up this season is going to be easier than what comes after, but it gives us time to, I guess, cost effectively if we need to, plan for next summer rather than having to immediately bring the wage bill down to that degree.
“I’d say no cause for alarm and a silver lining in there that we get special dispensation after relegation.”
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