Town are facing competition from Reading for the signature of promising young Icelandic striker Viktor Unnar Illugason. Both clubs want the 15-year-old to join their academy set-ups as a full-time scholar next summer.

Illugason, currently with home town side Breidablik, has had two periods on trial with the Blues and is expected to return to Playford Road for a further spell later in the season.

However, the U17 international was on trial with Reading's academy last week and scored a hat-trick in a 6-0 win. The Royals have already signed Gylfi Thor Sigurdsson, a team-mate of Illugason at both international and club level, on a scholarship deal.

Elsewhere, the weekend tabloids included few mentions of Town, other than a claim that the Blues are watching 21-year-old Stevenage Borough striker George Boyd, who is being also being linked with Leeds United, Crystal Palace and Luton.

Further to newspaper reports from last month, TWTD understands that the Grays Athletic player who recently interested a Town scout was pacy striker or midfielder Aaron McLean, rather than frontman Dennis Oli. A Town representative watched the Essex side defeat Cray Wanderers in an FA Cup first round tie in October, former Aldershot man McLean scoring the opening goal.

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