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Reasons For Deadline Day Failure Revealed

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As we all know deadline day is normally a frustrating one for us Charlton fans and this season was no different, there were a few names on the table such as Mo Eisa and Erhun Oztumer, but in the end, we had to settle with a panic buy and that was Gillingham’s, Josh Parker.

The winger/striker from Antigua (which is opposite from Lyle Taylor’s Montserrat) is not much of a goal scorer netting 18 goals in his last 89 appearances which is not exactly what we need but it’s better than getting no one I guess.

The Erhun Oztumer deal was just minutes from being completed when Bolton Wanders called saying they could not land a replacement and Oztumer had to return to the club. Here’s what Bowyer had to say when speaking to the South London Press.

“I feel sorry for the lad, he was at the ground to sign the papers. Because there was no number nine available, we went for the best number 10 who scores goals.”

“In the last couple of seasons, he has scored 15 goals and got 10 assists in both of them. We had a back-up plan which all went pear-shaped. It was reliant on Bolton bringing in Ched Evans – who then scored against us at the weekend! The kid was gutted. We had it all lined up, but it didn’t go our way.”

So, as you can tell Bowyer had it all lined up but other events going on in the country meant that we had to settle for a striker who does not score much. It is a real shame that this did not go through because he would have been a fantastic replacement for Billy Clarke and Karlan Grant at the same time, he knows exactly where the goal is and he brings a lot of goals to his game although this season he has only netted once during the Carabao Cup which in fact was his debut in a game where Bolton Wanders lost 2-1 to Leeds United.

This was not the only frustration deadline day brought, Mo Eisa was also set to sign until the same thing happened again. It really is just our luck when it comes to situations like this, I hate how we had to rely on other clubs to get their deals done before we could get someone in and that really cost us late on in the day. Here’s what Bowyer had to say about Mo Eisa.

“He [Eisa] was one we were looking to bring in. Bristol was trying hard to bring someone in. There was a Championship club trying to take him as well but he said he wanted to come here, we were his first choice. He would’ve been a good replacement for Karlan in terms of the similarities between the two of them, but it just didn’t happen.

“I think they were trying to go for Scott Hogan, who ended up at Sheffield United. They were trying and trying, but couldn’t get anyone in.”

It really is a joke the way deadline day went for us, but all of this is not over yet the free agents are available and I’m sure there are a few talented players out there we can sign it’s just going to take a bit of time to decide who we can bring in that is really going to make a difference to this squad.

Bowyer also mentioned the possibility of bringing in someone on a free.

“But we’ll also look at people who are out of contract as well and see if anyone has come available since the window closed. But I don’t think there is much out there if I’m honest. There is no point bringing a body, in just for the sake of it.

“We had identified the best ones out there but we were reliant on the other clubs and unfortunately they had the same problem – they couldn’t release a striker until they had brought one in.”

We will take a look at who is on that list later today, but we need to get another striker in no doubt about it and Bowyer knows it more than anyone, we can’t rely on our youth right now they are just not ready for first-team football. Let’s just see who he can snap up!

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