Charlton Athletic manager Dean Holden has confirmed that players will leave the club this summer as he prepares for a tough season ahead.
The Addicks have been very active in the transfer window thus far, having signed the likes of Alfie May from Cheltenham Town, Terry Taylor from Burton Albion and goalkeeper Harry Isted on a free transfer, among others.
However, many players have also gone in the opposite direction. Sean Clare, Albie Morgan, Alex Gilbey, and Ryan Inniss are just some of the names that have left The Valley over the past few weeks.
Nonetheless, the departures won’t be ending there, according to Holden, who has admitted that the Charlton squad may grow even thinner by the end of the window.
Speaking to club media, the former Bristol City boss said:
“We know where we need to strengthen and those decisions have already been made. Obviously, there will probably be players to leave the club before the window closes as you see at every club and in every transfer window naturally.”
“We want to keep quite a trim squad. We don’t want too many who aren’t going to be getting a lot of game time – I think it’s important from a psychological side as a player that you always feel close to the team.”
Ready for the season
Charlton Athletic take on newly-promoted side Leyton Orient tomorrow at The Valley on the opening day of the League One campaign and the 43-year-old has declared his team ready for the season ahead:
“I’ve been really pleased with the work that the players have done, I have to say. They’ve worked really hard this pre-season, as you’d expect, but to come through it unscathed with no soft-tissue injuries is great credit to everybody.
“We’ve pushed the players and pushed them to some dark places at times in pre-season, but they’ve come through it and they’ll be all the stronger for that. The squad’s in a good place, obviously, there’s some decisions to be made in the next 48 hours going into the game, but as it stands right now everything’s okay.”
Writer’s View
Charlton Athletic have done some great business in this summer window, notably bringing centre-forward Alfie May to the club who scored 67 goals in 165 appearances for Cheltenham Town – roughly a goal every two and a half games.
Nevertheless, there are still players in the squad who are likely to leave before the end of the month, making the squad smaller, meaning perhaps we’ll see more new faces coming in to replace the pending departures.
Be the first to comment