Mamadou Loum disclosed that his ambition at Reading is to help the team get up the table in the EFL Championship.
The Senegal international joined the Royals on a season-long loan in July from Portuguese outfit FC Porto.
Paul Ince’s men made a stuttering start in the 2022-23 English second-tier campaign, losing 1-0 to Blackpool at Bloomfield Road with Callum Connolly’s ninth-minute strike pegging them down.
Speaking to the club’s website ahead of Saturday’s fixture against Cardiff City – where he is expected to make his debut – the 25-year-old talked about his mission to the Berkshire-based outfit while expressing his admiration for manager Ince.
“I am feeling good and I am very happy to be here," Loum told the Reading website.
"This is a big opportunity for me, and I have come to help my team get up the table.
“I spoke with the manager who is a good coach, and he will help me improve every day in training.
“I have seen some videos on YouTube of him when he was younger when he was a player and he was very good.”
The Championship is recognised for its competitiveness, and the Lion of Teranga is hoping to improve as a footballer with the Royals.
“This is a big challenge and it is important to me to get this opportunity as it offers me the chance to mature, to get some more experience and to win games for this club,” he continued.
“I am very happy to be here, and it helps I know some of the players like Yakou Meite.
“The dressing room has a good mentality, and ever since I arrived everybody has been helping me, which I believe is very important in football.”
Loum made his international debut in 2019 and he was part of the West African country’s title-winning squad at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
With the 2022 Fifa World Cup around the corner, the midfielder would be hoping his displays in England earn him a place in Aliou Cisse’s final squad to Qatar.
“The national team is very important to me and when I play well here, hopefully, I get to go away with the national team this year," he concluded.
Senegal have been drawn in Group A with hosts Qatar, Ecuador and the Netherlands.
