Reading FC manager Veljko Paunovic expressed his praise for the attitude of Andy Carroll after the forward joined the club on a short term deal.
The former England international has signed with the Berkshire club on an initial deal that will run until mid January.
“Now he is here, it means alot to everyone, the club and the fans and his teammates,” said Paunovic.
“The day he signed, I saw somebody with fantastic energy and desire.
“I told him I want to see him like that everyday with that positivity and enthusiasm, that’s what we need.
“On top of his quality and experience, we want people who are ready for these challenges and want to get themselves out there and give their best for the club.
“We’ve been in close contact since the summer transfer window. Unfortunately in that moment we couldn’t make it happen for multiple reasons that we couldn’t solve.
“As we moved forward, we kept in touch and needed time given our financial situation, so it built up and got to the point where we were both ready to go and we executed it in 24 hours.
“It caught everyone by surprise because of how quickly it happened. These kind of deals like this are what we want.”
Despite not yet being match fit, Paunovic admitted that he was impressed with Carroll’s physical condition in his first week of training at Bearwood Park.
He continued: “He’s in very good shape. The first day of his training we closely monitored his load.
“He was capable of outputting a fantastic performance, equivalent to 45 minutes of game time.
“Obviously there was a factor of excitement and adrenaline that lifted his fitness but he’s a fit guy and has trained with individual coaches to maintain himself.
“He’s a professional who’s been in this business for 15 years, so he knows what he needs to do with his body to stay in shape.
“He knew at any given moment this deal could happen or another deal, so he came in very good shape.
“Given the circumstances, we had to do the deal like this (short term contract).
“We will definitely look to see how it will work for both parties but we will aim for a long term commitment.”
