Charlton are not exactly known for wrapping transfer business up early and we are still known for leaving our fans hanging on. Thankfully Charlton made it worth the wait as we signed two quality players, centre-back Tom Lockyer and striker Chuks Aneke and to get them both in on a free is an absolute steal.
We may have lost two of our best players on frees, but I think we are starting to replace them accordingly with players that could be better than the ones we had before. They are going to have to be better, we are still waiting on a replacement for Aribo, but that is going to have to be a position that we will have to have our wits about us and a lot of hard work needs to go into it to fill up the position we can’t just replacement him with any old centre-midfielder.
The reliable Richard Cawley has stated that Charlton are aiming to be bringing in at least one player and possibly two whilst they are out in Malaga. No word on who those two could be, but I have my own ideas on who they could be.
#cafc looking for at least one deal – if not two – while they are in Malaga. Player(s) would jet out to join the group. https://t.co/MwCWrA1lJu pic.twitter.com/IW0zNY78OG
— Richard Cawley (@RichCawleySLP) July 2, 2019
Jonny Williams is an obvious candidate as he has travelled with the squad to Spain for the pre-season warm weather training. What a signing this would be, if we manage to keep Jonny after the interest he has attracted it goes to show how vital it is to have Lee Bowyer at the helm, it’s his status and knowledge of football is what is attracting these quality players and to think Roland would have let him go just a few weeks ago is absolutely criminal.
Erhun Oztumer is a name that has seen a lot of talk on Twitter regarding his move to The Valley. I have been told by my source that he has signed a contract, I don’t know how to true it is but there is a real reason why he has not been announced by the club. (the source also told me about Chuks Aneke before he signed for us) Apparently, there are some contract difficulties he needs to iron out with Bolton seeing as he is leaving on a free, but he is still in contract. He has put in his notice in to leave the club for free so what he is doing is really going to help us out and it shows he is keen for the move. Plus he was in Greenwich this weekend so if that’s not saying something I don’t know what is!
Ben Purrington was a very good left-back for us at the latter end of last season, he provided a bit more reassurance at the back as we had Chris Solly playing left-back when Page was injured, so to add him to the squad was something we badly needed. This signing may be a bit less likely than the other two purely because we would have to spend money on him. It’s a sad situation that anyone we have to put a bit of money into is more or less out of bounds for us, but it would be brilliant to see Ben ‘The Cat’ Purrington back in the team.
Ben Amos was one of the better keepers we have had in the recent years of the club’s history, he was the number one keeper in our failed playoff campaign back in the 17/18 season. He did impress a lot of Charlton fans and it would be good to see him back, although I would not want to see him as number one ahead of Dillon Phillips. Saying that he will provide a great amount of competition for Dillon and I seriously hope that he does because a player like Ben will have a good impact on Dillon.