Reading manager confirms Chelsea loanee's recall clause

When Michael Emenalo decides to write his autobiography, hopefully he'll include a chapter entitled 'Papy Djilobodji, Michael Hector, and that time we got a bit crazy with the cheese whiz'.  (And then explain what the thinking here was, rather than just put in a trollface picture.)

In any case, Michael Hector was linked with an early recall to Chelsea after rumors of Papy Djilobodji getting sold to Besiktas surfaced a few days ago.  Reading manager Steve Clarke was quizzed on this yesterday, confirming that Chelsea do indeed have the option to recall the on-loan center back, but that he has not heard of Chelsea wanting to actually exercise it.

"Chelsea haven't been in touch with me and as far as I know they haven't been in touch with the club. There is a recall clause in January, which there is in most season long loans. It's not for the whole month, but there is a week in January when they could take him back - if they want him. But I've had no indication that Chelsea want to take Michael back in January."

-Steve Clarke; source: Get Reading

And just in case Chelsea are harboring such thoughts, Clarke added an obvious plea.

"I think it would be better for Michael to finish the season here. From there he could make decisions on his career."

-Steve Clarke; source: Get Reading

John Terry's injury on Tuesday has once again reminded us that the depth at center back is pretty thin, especially since we still have no idea whether Papy Djilobodji is, a) decent enough for emergency action, or b) real.  We don't know the extent of Terry's injury yet, but if it is serious, we could definitely be looking to add defensive reinforcements in January.  Whether Hector would constitute reinforcement is up for debate of course.