Charlton Athletic’s director of football Steve Gallen has revealed his side beat Hull City and Swansea City to sign Tom Lockyer in 2019, as per a report by London News Online.
The Addicks then sold the Wales international to Luton Town in the past transfer window.
Lockyer, who is 25 years old, moved to the Valley from Bristol Rovers in July last year and made 43 appearances for the London club. He had previously played 285 games for the Pirates.
However, he couldn’t prevent Lee Bowyer’s side from slipping into League One and was subsequently thrown a Championship lifeline by the Hatters.
Gallen has said, as per London News Online: “To get Tom to sign the year before we had to put in the contract that if we get relegated he can leave on a free transfer. We didn’t pay for him. If you’re paying a transfer fee you would never ever agree to that.
“Tom had Hull, Swansea and ourselves and we really wanted him. I’m so pleased we got him. He was excellent for us. He didn’t find anything for a while [after relegation] so I was thinking we might be able to keep him. In the end Luton came in and took him. I’m not surprised. He’s a good player.”
He added: “Luton’s chief executive Gary Sweet rang me up and said: “Steve, I hate to do this but we’re going to take your player’. I said: ‘You don’t even need to call me’. He said: ‘We like to do things the right way’. Thank you for doing that. I respect you for doing that.”
Charlton and Luton’s positive relationship came to fruition again on the last transfer transfer deadline day when the Addicks were able to bring Andrew Shinnie in on loan from Kenilworth Road.
In other news, Charlton were interested in Arsenal striker Reece John-Jules over the past couple of months, as per The72.
