Chelsea's Lewis Baker joins Reading on loan for rest of the season
Wednesday 9 January 2019 17:58, UK
Reading have completed a loan deal for Chelsea midfielder Lewis Baker, who will be with the Royals for the rest of the season.
The 23-year-old has cut short a loan stint with Championship pace-setters Leeds in order to join Reading, who are struggling at the wrong end of the table.
He becomes the second midfielder to join Reading in the space of a week - Liverpool's Ovie Ejaria having also arrived on loan.
Reading boss Jose Gomes said: "Lewis is a player of undoubted ability who, having grown up at Chelsea, has gone on to regularly represent his country at youth level and earn valuable first-team experience on loan, both in England and Holland (with Vitesse Arnhem).
"Importantly, he also knows what it takes to meet the demands of this division and I am looking forward to him joining the group in training for the first time tomorrow (Thursday)."
Chief Executive Nigel Howe added: "Lewis is a very talented young footballer who has been on the club's radar for a number of years now.
"He is another player who we feel will fit seamlessly into the style of play the manager is implementing and offer added quality to our first team squad."
Baker made 14 appearances after joining Leeds in the summer but only two of them were Championship starts.
Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa said this week that he had wanted Baker to stay beyond his loan deal, but agreed that the player had legitimate expectations to play more than he had done.
