Reading FC sign Kenyan winger Ayub Masika

Reading FC have signed winger Ayub Masika on loan from Beijing Renhe until the end of the season.

Masika is said to have been trialling with manager Mark Bowen’s first team in recent weeks on the Hogwood Park pitches.

Reading FC made the announcement on Ayub Masika through their Twitter page on Friday.

“Masika is a precocious talent with real speed that means he can hurt the opposition in good areas of the field. We’ve had a look at him in training over recent weeks and he’s shown good qualities,“ Bowen said.

https://twitter.com/ReadingFC/status/1223321298086060032?s=20

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7_xxxHJrZX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

A statement on the Royals website said Masika joins the club until the end of the 2019-20 campaign.

He was born in Nairobi but is also a Belgian citizen.

The forward honed his football skills while at Anderlecht from the age of 13.

According to Reading FC, Ayub Masika continued his footballing education in the youth ranks of Beerschot AC before signing professional terms at Genk in 2010.

“At Genk, he played alongside Kevin De Bruyne and Christian Benteke and scored his first goal in a Europa League qualifying clash against FC Luzern in August 2012,” the website says.

“On the international scene, Masika made his Kenya debut against South Africa in October 2012, coming off the bench to play alongside Spurs star Victor Wanyama and against former Royals loanee Bongani Khumalo,” the Reading FC website says.

It adds that the forward registered his first international goal with a superb free kick against Comoros in an African Cup of Nations qualifier in 2015 and he has scored three more wearing his country’s colours – finding the net against Mauritius, the Republic of Congo and Zambia.

Chief Executive Nigel Howe stated that he is: “A quick winger with experience of international football and both the Belgian and Chinese top flight, I am very pleased to welcome Masika to the club. I wish him the very best of luck during his loan spell at Reading and look forward to seeing the impact he can make at first team level.”