Confirmation today that Everton have parted with £7.5m upfront with another £3.5m to follow based upon possible add-ons to sign Ademola Lookman. Ordinarily that is good business and I blogged recently, aligns Lookman's Charlton contribution closely to that of former midfielder, Lee Bowyer in terms of performances and goals prior to departure. The trouble is, with Duchatelet at the helm, this is not necessarily just good business but the club strategy and modus operandi all the time he is running the shop.
Like many others, I am pleased that Lookman is at Everton, a club where he will get a chance in the first team sooner rather than later and a club which has a strong tradition of trying to play the game the right way, irrespective of how successful or otherwise they might be in doing it.
The Standard Liege fans had a good cartoon for what Duchatelet did as he left their club so perhaps we can look on this as a good omen.
On the other hand, will he now be greedily viewing Esra Konsa as £3m in the Summer and Joe Aribo as another few mill come next January? If so, it might encourage him to stay on longer as he attempts to recover his loses and make a profit on the sale.
Katrien Meire explained to the Hastings & Bexhill Supporters Club at the pre-match fans meeting on Saturday that FFP rules prevented Charlton from spending too much of the Lookman proceeds on replacements, although I don't understand that and it looks like another convenient line from Meire which will quickly lose the 'n.'
Whatever, we have moved today to sign Brighton's fifth choice midfielder, Jake Caskey-Forster. The 22 year-old will be reunited with Adam Chicksen and should be comfortable at this level. The other window talk is of a signing or two of Karl Robinson's ex-players from MK Dons. If that's it, we may, arguably have been seen to strengthen the squad, although the jury will largely be out.
The background talk, and Meire mentioned it in her commentary on the news of today's transfers, is that we are looking for a play-off berth. Personally I believe we failed in the Summer to recruit fully or big enough to get out of League One and that we are some way short of realistic promotion ambitions.
What we need is managerial stability through until next season and we need to hold our squad together with a couple of ambitious adjustments for next season if we are to mount a serious promotion challenge. Most Charlton fans would acknowledge that, although the odds are probably against Duchatelet supporting it. Either Robinson will go or we will do another clearout in the Summer as Meire attempts to cut costs once again.
Like many others, I am pleased that Lookman is at Everton, a club where he will get a chance in the first team sooner rather than later and a club which has a strong tradition of trying to play the game the right way, irrespective of how successful or otherwise they might be in doing it.
The Standard Liege fans had a good cartoon for what Duchatelet did as he left their club so perhaps we can look on this as a good omen.On the other hand, will he now be greedily viewing Esra Konsa as £3m in the Summer and Joe Aribo as another few mill come next January? If so, it might encourage him to stay on longer as he attempts to recover his loses and make a profit on the sale.
Katrien Meire explained to the Hastings & Bexhill Supporters Club at the pre-match fans meeting on Saturday that FFP rules prevented Charlton from spending too much of the Lookman proceeds on replacements, although I don't understand that and it looks like another convenient line from Meire which will quickly lose the 'n.'
Whatever, we have moved today to sign Brighton's fifth choice midfielder, Jake Caskey-Forster. The 22 year-old will be reunited with Adam Chicksen and should be comfortable at this level. The other window talk is of a signing or two of Karl Robinson's ex-players from MK Dons. If that's it, we may, arguably have been seen to strengthen the squad, although the jury will largely be out.
The background talk, and Meire mentioned it in her commentary on the news of today's transfers, is that we are looking for a play-off berth. Personally I believe we failed in the Summer to recruit fully or big enough to get out of League One and that we are some way short of realistic promotion ambitions.
What we need is managerial stability through until next season and we need to hold our squad together with a couple of ambitious adjustments for next season if we are to mount a serious promotion challenge. Most Charlton fans would acknowledge that, although the odds are probably against Duchatelet supporting it. Either Robinson will go or we will do another clearout in the Summer as Meire attempts to cut costs once again.
We will see the true intent during this transfer window after raking in a huge amount of cash and selling the best player in a threadbare and injured group. I welcome Forster Caskey but serious intent needs to be shown and money needs to be spent, Mr Robinson deserves a proper go let's see if he's backed.
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