Former Charlton Atheltic defender Lewis Page, once valued at £125,000 by Transfermarkt, has joined his tenth club following his release from Dagenham.
Page, who started life as a trainee at West Ham United, has joined National League strugglers Ebbsfleet following his release by the Daggers. The 26-year-old left-back joins with a wealth of EFL experience and even appeared in the Europa League for the Hammers back in 2015/16. He’s now focused on a new challenge, keeping his new employers in the National League.
“When we played against Ebbsfleet last season, there was a real philosophy there,” said Page, who will join his new club officially on June 30th. “You could see it and feel it in the game. We were under pressure and Ebbsfleet put on a really good performance. It’s all about momentum, and hopefully, we can take Ebbsfleet’s momentum from the end of last season into this one.”
He joins a side that narrowly avoided relegation from the fifth tier last season, surviving on the final day in a winner-takes-all showdown with Boreham Wood. It was their first appearance in the top level of the non-league pyramid for three seasons and something they’ll be hoping to retain this season.
The capture of Page will certainly help with that. Whilst on the books of West Ham he had a loan spell with Coventry City, but was unable to prevent them from slipping out of League One as his spell was terminated early by Russell Slade; that also cost him a place in their EFL Trophy winning side at the end of the season.
However, his form earned him a switch to Charlton, where he penned a two-and-a-half-year deal the following January, a move that is reported to have cost around £100,000. The Enfield-born defender spent three-and-a-half seasons at the Valley, but struggled to make a significant impact despite being part of the squad promoted to the Championship under Lee Bowyer in 2018/19. He departed with just 27 league starts across his spell, and a single goal.
Since leaving south London, he’s struggled to find form, appearing for Exeter City and Harrogate Town in League Two, as well as unsuccessful spells with Gillingham and Mansfield Town. His move to Ebbsfleet sees him pen a deal with the tenth club of his career.
Writer’s View
Lewis Page is an experienced player, but those early Europa League appearances against FC Lusitans and Astra Giurgiu were seemingly false starts. Despite a good pedigree, he just hasn’t been consistent enough to maintain a Football League career.
He only played 20 times for Dagenham last season, and this move does feel like another little step-down, which has been the story of the last decade for Page. It’s hard to understand quite why; he’s certainly got the right attributes to be a success, but just doesn’t get a good enough run of games to show what he can do. On the occasions he has had games, such as at Exeter, he’s not quite done enough to impress.
He needs a big season at Ebbsfleet, which is handy because they’ll need a big season from him if they’re to stay up again.