Reading remain in talks with Rennes over defender John Mensah.

Reports suggest a ?3.5 million bid has been lodged with the French top-division club for the giant 23-year-old defender.

And Royals chief Nicky Hammond confirmed to the Reading Chronicle: "Now that the World Cup is coming to an end and clubs are back in pre-season training, we expect things to move forward much quicker.

"I won't discuss individual players but we know who we want and we're trying to get some results.

"We've made it clear we need to strengthen defensively and we've taken stock of the World Cup and the African nations in that."