Newcastle United midfielder Jeff Hendrick could have a permanent home at Reading if Paul Ince gets his way.
The former England and Manchester United star wants to keep Hendrick next season should Reading's transfer embargo be lifted. And Ince knows he will be signing the "ultimate pro" if the deal goes through.
Reading boss Ince said: "It’s difficult because of the embargo and we can’t really afford to pay the wages we’d like. "Hopefully the embargo gets lifted and then hopefully we can spend a bit more than what we have done this year.
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"Ideally, he’s one of the players you can keep. He’s based in London, he’s got a family down here. In my life I’ve played with and managed some great players, but to me he is the ultimate pro. He comes in every day and does it right.
"He’s a great lad, everybody loves him. You know what you’re going to get out of him, seven or eight out of ten every week, he cares about his job."
Hendrick has one year left on his current Toon deal but Ince says the player appreciates his time may be up at Newcastle. Hendrick's loan ends at the end of May with the Ireland midfielder trying to help Reading stay in the Championship.
Ince, speaking to Sporting Post, said: "Newcastle have gone down a different road and I think Jeff knows that. "If we can afford to keep him next year then that’d be great.
"But I can’t think about next year. I need to think about keeping the team in the Championship, which is going to be tough enough as it is and then we go from there.
"But if anybody asks me what the idea of a perfect professional is, it’s Jeff Hendrick because he’s a super guy. Fingers crossed and everything goes well for us and we manage to stay up, then we’d like to keep hold of him."
