Charlton Athletic enjoyed success in their loan recruitment for the 2018/19 League One season, in which they won promotion to the Championship after beating Sunderland in the play-off final.
Three players who came to Charlton Athletic on loan and enjoyed aprticulary impressive spells were Arsenal’s Krystian Bielik, West Ham midfielder Josh Cullen and Rotherham United left-back Ben Purrington. Now, with Lee Bowyer’s future sorted, the Addicks will move on to bringing in some new faces.
Charlton will be tasked with replacing the departing loan players this summer, who Lee Bowyer has lauded praise on in an interview with talkSPORT. Bowyer spoke about the club’s loan players, singing the praises of Head of Recruitment Steve Gallen, who worked hard to bring in the loan men over the course of the season.
“Steve worked miracles with the players we brought in.
“We have built a good relationship with clubs now, because the players we brought in [on loan], they have all gone back better than what we received. Like Josh Cullen, he is now a full Irish international. He could have been playing U23s football for West Ham last season, but we were lucky enough to get him and now look at him.
“To go and represent your country at the highest level, it just shows how well he did with us.”
Bowyer went on to say that the club will have a task on their hands try and bring in young players from top clubs to prove themselves in the Championship, but is hopeful that their reputation they have earned for helping loan players will stand them in good stead.
“We had five loans last season and they have all gone back, and we have let five or six go, so that is 11 gone. We have to replace all of them, and the difficult thing is doing that with better than what we had.
“Everyone knows that division is very tough. It is a tough league to stay in, and we will have the smallest budget in the league, there is no hiding from that.
“We have got to try and persuade players to come on a small wage, but we will give them a chance to prove themselves in the Championship.”
