Exclusive: Reading FC in pole position to beat Plymouth...

According to unique information obtained by Football League World, Reading is in the lead to sign Brighton & Hove

Albion attacker Mark O’Mahony on loan.

After rising from 17th in 23/24 to seventh in 24/25, the Royals are looking to build on a significantly better season

the following season.

Goalie Jack Stevens and centre-back Paudie O’Connor have already arrived at the Select Car Leasing Stadium as part

of Noel Hunt’s team’s efforts to bolster their roster after missing out on a play-off spot by just three points.

Football League World has learnt exclusively that Reading is currently the front-runner to sign on loan

Mark O’Mahony, forward for Brighton.

Earlier this week, we exclusively disclosed that Leyton Orient, whose interest in the 20-year-old Seagulls sensation

was originally reported by Alan Nixon in late June, had been joined by Barnsley, Plymouth and the Royals.

Before Brighton acquired him in January 2023, O’Mahony started his career in his native Ireland, playing for

Carrigaline United and Cork City respectively.

The youthful center-forward, a Republic of Ireland youth international, has been scoring goals for his country and

Brightons academy in recent years. In the 23–24 season, he even made his first three Premier League outings for the

team.

Not every young player on Brighton’s roster get Premier League minutes.

To be pushed into the deep end of English football’s top division as a teenager whose only prior senior experience

was playing a few games in Irish football you must have gained the manager’s trust.

Therefore, it speaks volumes about how well-liked O’Mahony is at the AMEX and how much potential he may have

that he made so many Premier League outings for the Seagulls before turning 20.

Although he only made three appearances, his three league goals in 593 minutes of second-tier football last season

amounted to a goals per 90 average of 0.46, placing him in the top 82.4 percentile of strikers in that division (per

FootMob). He did, in fact, display more hints of that while playing on loan in the Championship with Portsmouth

last season.

O’Mahony did miss a lot of time last season due to injury as well; he was out for over two and a half months due to a

side strain that he sustained in November.

Because he might be a cut above at that level, moving down to League One might give him the ideal chance to make a

big splash in senior football.

Therefore, it would be a mistake for any of Reading, Barnsley, Plymouth, or Leyton Orient to wager on a gifted young

striker like O’Mahony, who may significantly improve any of their attacking lines in the third division the following

season.

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