Football League World
·18 July 2024
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·18 July 2024
FLW takes a look at the latest news surrounding Charlton Athletic.
Charlton Athletic have returned from their pre-season training camp in Slovenia, but their work has continued this week with a couple of notable pre-season friendlies and the arrival of a promising goalkeeper, while striker Matty Godden has shared his thoughts ahead of next season.
Charlton spent a week at their training camp in Slovenia, which was rounded off with an impressive 3-1 victory over Turkish top flight side Goztepe.
The picturesque setting proved to be an excellent base for the intense training sessions that manager Nathan Jones was putting his players through, as he continues to prepare his squad to play the high-tempo brand of football that has brought him success in the past.
It has been a relatively quiet week on the transfer front, with Teddy Bishop and Danny Hylton still on trial but no new first team signings to add to the seven players that have been brought in so far during the summer window.
Let's take a look at a few recent updates regarding Charlton Athletic.
Charlton signed experienced striker Matty Godden from Championship side Coventry City this summer.
The forward, who will turn 33 at the end of July, spoke to the BBC this week about nearly signing for the Addicks in the past, how impressed he has been by Charlton's youngsters, and what he thinks helped The Sky Blues win the League One title in 2020.
"I've tried moving here before actually, when I was at Stevenage, but things didn't quite work out," said Godden.
"It's probably the dream club that I could have played for down here.
"I met, obviously, the gaffer, and he explained his ambitions and I explained mine, and mine are purely that I watched Charlton play in the Premier League and I want to see this club climbing the leagues again.
"When I joined Coventry five years ago, it was quite similar. Sleeping giant, bit different at Coventry because we didn't have the stadium, but yeah, sleeping giant, expectations, and one which is probably the best atmosphere that I enjoy. I enjoy to go out there and try and succeed and do something. "We had a good spine, a good mixture of older and younger players, which I can see is starting to come along here as well.
"Obviously, the gaffer is bringing in some experienced players, especially at this level and the level above. Combine that with some really outstanding younger boys - obviously I've only been here for nearly three weeks now - that I've seen, it bodes really well for the football club."
While Charlton are likely to bring in another first team goalkeeper this summer to add to the signing of Will Mannion, they have brought in a young goalkeeper from Rochdale to join the academy at Sparrows Lane.
18-year-old stopper Lennon MacLorg has now signed for the Addicks from The Dale after featuring for the under-18s at the back end of last season.
After signing his first professional contract at The Valley, the youngster explained what he could bring to the team in the future.
He said: "I'm quite a modern goalkeeper. I like to be around my centre-halves as a third centre-back, helping them out and always supporting them, so if they ever want to come back they know they've got someone who they can trust with the ball."
Charlton's Head of Academy Goalkeeping, Jack Hadley, spoke about why he hopes that MacLorg can break into the first team in the coming years.
He said: "His distribution is second to none - really high quality. As an athlete, how he moves around the goal, he's powerful, athletic, agile. He's got all the strengths to be a top, top goalkeeper."
Charlton played a training game against Millwall this week, and will play their third official pre-season fixture on Friday against Crystal Palace.
The Addicks were beaten 2-0 by the Lions behind closed doors. Jones shared his thoughts on the game in an interview that was posted on the club's official website.
He said: "Structurally we were good and physically we were good; we just need to add a little bit more quality and then be a little bit better doing the basics.
"No one has reported any injuries - that's the most important thing really and then you're looking for the physical workout, which we got. Then you're looking for the result, so two out of three ain't bad."
Charlton will play against Palace at the end of the week, before games against AFC Wimbledon and Portsmouth in the next few weeks will round off their pre-season schedule.