Charlton Athletic bid to sign Chelsea's David Datro Fofana in doubt despite seeing Celtic off | OneFootball

Charlton Athletic's move to sign David Datro Fofana from Chelsea is in doubt after issues with submitting the paperwork.

Charlton Athletic's deadline-day deal for Chelsea's David Datro Fofana looks to be hanging in the balance.

In what looked like a big transfer coup for Charlton today, they were set to sign Fofana from Chelsea, beating Celtic to the signing of the 22-year-old forward.

However, in a very late twist, it's unclear whether paperwork has been submitted on time to give the Addicks the extra time to complete the deal.

Charlton Athletic sweating on David Datro Fofana deal

Reports earlier today had confirmed that Fofana had turned down the chance to join Celtic, with Charlton pulling off an impressive coup to sign him on loan from Chelsea.

That deal was pushing today's 7pm deadline, and a deal sheet needed to be submitted to grant Charlton the time to get things over the line.

An update from Anthony Joseph at Sky Sports shortly before 11pm on deadline day has now suggested that the deal is in serious doubt and could be on the brink of collapsing.

He reports that whilst Charlton have submitted paperwork to the EFL to get the deal done, there is a feeling at the Valley that they have not got that through on time. If that is the case, they will not be able to sign the man they had seen Celtic off in the race to sign.

Had Fofana opted for Celtic, they would have had until 11pm tonight to sign him, with the Scottish window open an additional four hours.

This would be a frustrating late twist for Charlton Athletic

As it emerged Charlton were signing Fofana, there was a pretty big buzz at the Valley. The fact they were seeing off Celtic in the race to sign him, too, was an even bigger boost.

So, to potentially lose that deal because paperwork hasn't been submitted on time is really frustrating.

The 22-year-old would've added real quality into the final third for Nathan Jones' side, who have so far scored just twice in their four Championship fixtures after promotion. Those two goals have come from an xG of 4.6, with seven big chances missed already this season.

It's clear Charlton needed that little bit more quality in the final third and the hope would have been that Fofana could have provided that. Despite having little impact at Chelsea, the 22-year-old previously scored four times on loan with Burnley in the Premier League and notched two goals in nine games in the Turkish top-flight last season on loan with Goztepe.