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Stoke complete club record Kitson signing

18/07/2008

Stoke City have broken their transfer record to clinch the £5.5 million signing of striker Dave Kitson from Reading.

The 28-year-old has signed a three-year contract at the Britannia Stadium and becomes the first signing for the newly promoted side.

"I'm delighted to be here and I am very excited about the challenge," Kitson told the official Stoke City website.

"I am 28 and I need to be in the Premier League. I have worked hard to get here with both Cambridge and Reading, so when the opportunity arose I wanted to get the deal done.

"I came down, had a look around the club and I knew this was where I wanted to be," added Kitson.

Kitson was one of Reading's better players last year as the club suffered relegation from the Premier League. The striker scored a respectable 10 goals last campaign and had an impressive record of 60 goals from 147 appearances for Reading.

Stoke manager Tony Pulis was delighted to bring Kitson to his club and revealed that the striker's "enthusiasm" for the game was one of the main reasons why he signed him.

It was also good business for Reading, who signed Kitson for only £150,000 from Cambridge in 2003.