The 18-year-old helped the Royals lift the inaugural trophy by beating Manchester City 4-3 on aggregate in the final.

Though Kuhl, whose father, Martin, is coach of Royals U21s, did not feature in the final due to an injury, he has played a key role in the team’s success over the season.

He also led the Under 18s into the FA Youth Cup semi-finals recently - the furthest the club has ever gone in the competition.

City are now said to be eyeing a £2 million swoop for Kuhl in the summer to help them reach their quota of homegrown players.

Kuhl’s U21 team-mates came from behind to beat Manchester City in the final of the inaugural Premier League Cup.

Royals trailed City 3-2 after the first leg but stormed back to win the second leg 2-0 in front of a 3,000-strong crowd at Madejski Stadium on Saturday.

City still had their noses in front at the interval but second-half goals from Tariqe Fosu and Jack Stacey secured a 4-3 aggregate victory and the cup.

Reading: Lincoln, Long (Fosu 68), Griffin, Keown, Cooper, Sweeney (c), Tshibola, Stacey, Kelly, Tanner, Ugwu. Subs not used: Ward, Murombedzi, Fridjonsson, Cardwell.

Manchester City: Lawlor, Drury (Tasende 75), Facey, Denayer, Leigh (Bytyqi 75), Glendon, Fofana, Ntcham, Lopes (C), Cole, Hiwula. Subs not used: O’Brien, Plummer, Bryan.

Referee: Kevin Friend.

Attendance: 3,034.