Reading manager Jaap Stam has revealed that Asamoah Gyan, who had been linked with a return to Sunderland, was not in good shape when he arrived for a medical with the Royals.
Just days before the transfer window was due to close it was suggested that Gyan was rapidly closing in on a move to Sunderland, five years after leaving the Stadium of Light.
But Gyan popped up at Championship side Reading to undergo a medical, with a switch to the Royals looking all but done.
However, Gyan failed a medical with Reading and Stam admits that the Ghana international was not in the best of shape when he turned up to undergo the check-up.
Asked about Gyan at a press conference held this morning, Stam said: "Yes [he failed a medical].
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"He was not in good shape.
"Our medical people are not going to lie. That is why we made the decision not to sign him."
And Stam says if Reading are spending money on a player then they need to know he is ready to perfom, something which was not the case with Gyan.
"If we are going to be spending money then we need to make sure he is fit and ready to perfom."
Gyan claimed that his switch to Reading broke down because the club would not let him play in the African Cup of Nations, but the Royals continue to cite a failed medical as the reason the move did not happen.
