Exclusive: Charlton Athletic backed to seal £1.5m striker deal - but one issue raised | OneFootball

Charlton are close to adding an attacking force to their ranks ahead of their Championship return.

Stockport County forward Isaac Olaofe is closing in on a move to Charlton Athletic.

The Hatters' promotion rivals are reportedly set to seal a £1.5 million deal for the 25-year-old following another stellar season in blue, as per Alan Nixon. Olaofe scored 10 league goals for Stockport in their first season back in League One, helping them to finish third in the division.

County are reportedly resigned to the inevitability of losing him to Nathan Jones' side this summer, who are now looking to re-establish themselves in the Championship following their play-off success.

Charlton Athletic praised for chasing Isaac Olaofe deal

For the price that is being reported, Charlton have potentially struck a very sweet deal here. That's the opinion of Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie, who spoke exclusively to Football League World.

Hendrie watched Olaofe play for Stockport in both of their post-season matches against Leyton Orient in May. He feels the attributes that the forward will bring to The Valley give him a strong chance of being a success.

"You do feel that, with the 10 goals he scored last season, a £1.5 million deal, you do feel that's not a bad deal. I think particularly the way that Charlton play. I think he would definitely suit them," said the pundit.

"He will give them something different going forward. He relieves pressure, he takes them up the pitch. I think he's one of them players that certainly can cause teams problems, just with his pace and his strength.

"I think maybe if you can add more goals to what he actually got last season, which is still a good turnover, but I think that's one thing that he probably needs to work on has being a bit more clinical, because he has got the potential to certainly go and kick on, and I do think that Charlton will bring him on, particularly the way they play.

"They turn teams over very quickly on the counter-attack. So, yeah, I think it'd be a good addition at £1.5 million."

If Isaac Olaofe sorts this one element of his game, he'll be a force to be reckoned with for Charlton

Olaofe, a product of the Millwall academy system, has slowly worked his way back up the footballing pyramid to his old club's current level. Should this deal go through without any hiccups, the 25-year-old will face the Lions next season.

He spent some time in the National League before joining Stockport in January 2023. His pace and power became evident to even more people once he made the step up to League Two - those qualities will shine at most levels - but he still brought with him an element of roughness.

A potential diamond is certainly present within Olaofe, but he isn't the polished product that he could be.

Although he scored Stockport's only goal in the second leg, we saw against Orient in the play-offs that he can be a bit wasteful in front of goal. Dave Challinor's side had a number of opportunities to put more goals past Josh Keeley in the opposing net but failed to, and some of those opportunities fell to Oloafe.

In League One last season, he had a 16 per cent conversion rate, which ranked him 57th in the division, as per FBRef. He also scored less than half of the efforts he put on target (40 per cent), also per FBRef.

Cleaning up this part of his game will make him a real problem for the second tier defenders that he is seemingly set to face next season.