Speaking to London News Online, Charlton Athletic director of football Steve Gallen has discussed the Addicks’ efforts to sign Peterborough United hotshot Jonson Clarke-Harris, admitting the club were “very keen”.
Charlton Athletic’s summer striker hunt ended in success after a stressful summer transfer window.
After being hit with a transfer embargo, the Addicks ended up bringing in Conor Washington – who has hit the ground running – and Omar Bogle – who is yet to find the back of the net but has put in encouraging performances.
However, prior to the arrivals of Washington and Bogle, Charlton looked at other options. As covered here on The72, the Addicks looked at both Danish striker Ronnie Schwartz and Arsenal starlet Tyreece John-Jules.
Jonson Clarke-Harris was also heavily linked with a move to The Valley. Charlton Athletic saw the then-Bristol Rovers striker as an ideal replacement for Lyle Taylor but the transfer embargo denied them from making the rumours a reality.
Now, Charlton’s director of football Steve Gallen has opened up about their pursuit in Clarke-Harris, who went on to join Peterborough United. Speaking to London News Online, he said:
“I don’t think it’s disrespectful to mention about Clarke-Harris. He was someone we were very keen on. We didn’t know we were under a total embargo and I was given permission to look into signing him, so we did.
“We spoke to Bristol Rovers and the player’s agent, once we had permission. Then we found out we couldn’t sign someone for £100, let alone £600,000 – or whatever it was for him at the time. You’d like someone like that in your camp because he’s a good player.”
Charlton Athletic fans, would you have liked to see Clarke-Harris make a move to The Valley in the summer transfer window? Let us know what you think in the poll at the bottom of the page.
