It is a move that has the potential to go to the wire as the Royals try and land the Crystal Palace striker.

The 31-year-old fired eight goals in 18 games in his loan spell at the club earlier in the season.

He returned to Crystal Palace at the end of December and started in their FA Cup clash with Dover as well as their home league game against Tottenham.

Murray was relegated to the bench for Saturday's win at Burnley but he came on late and played a part in Dwight Gayle's late winner.

Reading are in desperate need of a striker and Steve Clarke has so far refused to rule out the possibility of Murray returning.

Speaking earlier this month, he said: "“I can't say whether it's over. There's still an opportunity for that deal to go ahead.

“Crystal Palace have changed their manager and Alan Pardew will want a few weeks to look at his squad.

“I've been here three weeks now and I'm still assessing my squad. I understand that's what Alan has to do.

“I'm not going to write that deal off just yet.”

It is likely that any deal will be dependent on Crystal Palace bringing in another striker.

They've already added Yaya Sanogo to their frontline but it's believed that Pardew wants one more striker, and Murray could leave to pave the way for that signing.

Reading want to bring Murray to the Madejski Stadium but the fee has to be right for the 31-year-old, who has 18 months remaining on his Crystal Palace contract.

Would you want Glenn Murray for the reported fee of £2 million?