Reading striker Kevin Doyle has admitted he would jump at the chance of joining a bigger club after being linked with Aston Villa and Chelsea.The Republic of Ireland international has been one of the Royals' great success stories since he was recruited from Cork City in the summer of 2005 for a £78,000 fee.

The 24-year-old has six goals to his name going into Saturday's Premier League clash at Aston Villa and has been linked with Chelsea.

And Doyle insists he would have no qualms about trying his luck at a club where expectations were higher, even though the competition for places would inevitably also be more fierce.

He said: "If one of the big clubs wanted to sign me I would want to go for it.

"People at Cork City were telling me "Why do you want to go to Reading, you are not going to play" but if I had listened to comments like that I wouldn't ever have furthered my career.

"You might end up sitting on the bench but if you believe in yourself it is not a case of going to a bigger club just to pick up money. You want to go as far as you can.

"If you are on the bench for a year or two then you would look to go back down and get a club where you are going to play, but you would have to take that opportunity when it comes in the first place. If you don't you are never going to know how far you can go."

It is a scenario that has already become a reality for one of his Championship winning team-mates from 2006, Steve Sidwell.

The midfielder was recruited by Chelsea at the start of the current campaign on a lucrative contract but has found starts hard to come by.

But Doyle is convinced Sidwell had made the right decision.

He added: "Anyone in his position would have done the same thing. I don't know anyone at this club who would have turned that down.

"He hasn't played as many games as he would have liked but he still had the chance to play them. He has only been there six months and is still settling in."

Reading travel to Villa Park still in search of their first league away win of the season and were beaten 2-1 there last season, with Doyle providing an early opener.

He said: "I got my first Premier League goal there last season but then Sonks (Ibrahima Sonko) got sent off and it was tough after that for us. We hung on for an awful long time but they got the winner in the end.

"Our away form hasn't been our strong point this season. It was something we were pretty good at last year but we have been getting closer to that over the last six weeks, when we have had some good performances."

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