Stuart Fleetwood become the second Summer season signing today when he joined from Forest Green Rovers for a "Developmental Fee" to be determined by tribunal which I guess will be c £150,000-250,000 which looked like "ours" and "theirs" in terms of valuation.
Hardly a surprise this, and the club will argue he costs us relatively little and is worth a punt. With Mcleod, Iwelumo, Gray, Todorov, Varney and Dickson (and Bent!) already fighting for two striking berths, it's easy to foresee one or even two of these being sold on. Izale Mcleod looks vulnerable to me if there is any interest at £500,000 and it wouldn't be hard to see justification for Gray or Iwelumo also going for a fee. At best a couple need to be loaned out to reduce the wage bill.
So, with five out so far (Gibbs, Powell, Sankofa, Walker and McCarthy) and two in (Hudson and Fleetwood), we remain on track for my 10-4 prediction!
Apparently, Lennie Lawrence is a big fan of Fleetwood's, from their time at Cardiff, so hope that's a good omen. As you say, worth a punt, assuming a couple of other forwards go. Does height matter though? I know we like Charlton to play the beautiful game, not the long ball stuff we did last year, but if/when Bent goes and if Iwelumo/Gray go out on loan, we're left with a bunch of 5ft 8in strikers (Dickson, Todorov, Fleetwood and McLeod) apart from Luke Varney (5ft 11). In the rough and tumble of the fizzy pops, will that get us promoted?
ReplyDeleteDidn't know that - if he's good enough for lennie, then he's definately worth a go. Good point re the lack of height without Gray and Iwelumo.Pards has always liked a big powerhouse upfront, so maybe it might be a case of either/or?
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