DENISS Rakels' spell at Reading FC is over with the out-of-favour striker set to join Lech Poznan.

The Polish club has revealed on its website that 24-year-old Rakels will sign a loan deal for the season, with the option to stay for another three years after that.

It almost certainly means Rakels has played his final game in a Royals shirt after struggling for games under boss Jaap Stam.

Rakels moved to the Madejski Stadium, from another Polish club, Cracovia, in 2016.

Reading Chronicle:

Deniss Rakels scores against Swindon Town in a pre-season friendly last summer. Photo: Dave Evans.

He made a decent start to his career in England with three goals in 14 appearances under former manager Brian McDermott including a dramatic winner in a 4-3 victory over Charlton in February 2016.

But after just three further games under Stam early on last season, he suffered a serious ankle injury in an EFL Cup win against MK Dons.

It took Rakels longer than expected to recover from the injury and, when he did regain his fitness, he was left in the Under 23 squad and did not play a part in Royals' play-off push that ultimately ended with defeat to Huddersfield Town in the final at Wembley.

However, Rakels did feature for Latvia in their World Cup qualifiers against Switzerland and Portugal recently.

Reading Chronicle:

Deniss Rakels scored three times in 17 first-team appearances for the Royals.