Reading chief Nick Hammond has revealed they failed with a record bid for one transfer target yesterday.

The Royals had been linked with a move for Blackpool's Tom Ince and they had made a bid for the England Under-21 international earlier this week.

Brian McDermott has been busy in this month's transfer window bringing in Stephen Kelly, Hope Akpan, Nick Blackman and Daniel Carrico, but Director of Football Nick Hammond has revealed they have just missed on a fifth new face which would have been a club record signing.

"We have been working throughout the day on one last record deal to bring a player to the club but it hasn't come to fruition," Hammond told the club's official website.

"We've made four very good signings in this window and you can see that the players we've brought in have already made an impact."