Reading boss Brian McDermott hopes to buy in January.

Discussions over the budget have begun with owner Anton Zingarevich and director of football Nicky Hammond and McDermott is hopeful there will be transfer activity next month.

"Our current squad could be strong enough to get us out of trouble, we will see in May," he said. "We'll see if we can add players in January - sometimes you add a couple of players and that freshens things up.

"It helps to make the rest of the squad better as well, so that could definitely be a good thing for us.

"I honestly thought the squad in the summer would do okay, but we'll have to find a way of getting results. We can do it, but I've always had that view."