Striker Ezio Touray is headed to the EFL Championship with Watford after impressing the former Premier League side.
Touray, most recently with Basingstoke Town in the Pitching In Isthmian League, was described as a ‘killer in front of goal’ by his now former manager Dan Brownlie in a post on the club website.
Touray was part of the famed JMA Reading FC team and played his way into the Reading City first team before he was recommended by the Cityzens to Basingstoke – where he duly signed – in the summer of 2022.
City boss Simon Johnson said on hearing the news: “So glad we pushed this young man to Basingstoke in the summer to provide him an even bigger platform to succeed. Another JMA Reading product that Reading City and Basingstoke Town have helped to nurture and kick on. Congrats my guy Ezio Touray keep working.”
Brownlie added: “We spoke to Ezio during the early stages of pre-season after Simon Johnson from Reading City and Ben Cook recommended that we do. We were honest with him. We told him that he could trust us to offer him decent game time, but there would be times he’d need to be patient. The more we saw, the more we liked him. He fit in perfectly. He turned from a player that we thought may make an impact in closing moments to becoming one of the first names on the team sheet. He found a home here. It was a perfect storm – the right environment, the right group of players at the right time. He really made the most of his surroundings and became immensely passionate about playing for us. You could see that in his performances. The rest of the our squad can take pride in the part they have played, because culturally – it was perfect for Ez.”
