Luxury Charlton Athletic player entering last chance saloon: View | OneFootball

As the clock wound down into the dying embers at the Amex Stadium, Kazenga LuaLua slowed, produced one step over, two hops, before a neat ball roll and flick to evade the angering Danny Guthrie and Jake Taylor.

Brighton and Hove Albion held a slender one-goal advantage over Reading in the third round of the FA Cup, and LuaLua had been sent on to do what he did best. Tie defenders up in knots. And do that he did, slaloming out of danger the first time, but enjoying doing it so much he turned back into traffic to do it again. He shifted the ball outside of Guthrie, who lunged in once more, before standing up both Royals players, taunting them.

Granted, he passed the ball out of play immediately after that, but as soon as he turned away, he was met with an appreciative roar from the home faithful. LuaLua raised his arms aloft to conduct the orchestra.

That was January 2014 - more than ten years ago - when the Congolese winger was at the peak of his powers, soaring down the Seagulls’ left wing on the south coast, ripping and rinsing right-backs to ruin.

Watching on in the Albion dugout that day? A certain Nathan Jones, now the manager of Charlton Athletic. Jones was Oscar Garcia’s assistant in the Spaniard’s first and only campaign in charge of Brighton, and before long, the Welshman’s coaching stocks were at such a high that Luton Town took a chance on him to reverse their fortunes in the fourth tier. We all know what happened next.

The Reunion with Nathan Jones

And now, once more, Jones and LuaLua reunite once more, this time in SE7, with the winger, now 33, joining Charlton on a free transfer on a short-term deal.

Jones signed the Congolese upon his release from Sunderland in 2018, with LuaLua struggling for game time following Brighton’s Premier League promotion and having two unsatisfactory loan spells at Queens Park Rangers before settling on a move to Teeside.

The Black Cats picked him up in January 2018, but he failed to settle on Wearside, needing a true place to call home and display his extraordinary talents on a more regular basis.

Jones’ Luton, then in League One, offered him that opportunity. LuaLua made 22 appearances for the Hatters in their title-winning term, before a contract dispute meant that he departed Kenilworth Road in search of his next home.

Little did he know that he was already there, and he resigned at the Kenny just weeks later. It was he who scored the winner away at Hull City, doing what he did best: picking up the ball, dallying for a second or so, before explosively accelerating into the space ahead of him, before producing a low daisy-cutter into the bottom corner to save Luton’s souls and keep them in the Championship.

Since then, it’s been far from plain-sailing. LuaLua has found himself in near-enough exile from England, plying his trade first at Gençlerbirliği in Turkey, before Levadiakos in Greece, but neither spell has been particularly fruitful. LuaLua made 23 appearances in the Turkish second tier in 2021/22, scoring once and assisting six times, and he didn’t net a single goal during his time in Greece, where he racked up 27 appearances as Levadiakos were relegated from the Super League.

LuaLua’s time abroad

Where LuaLua fits in at Charlton

So now he finds himself on the doorstep of the Valley, given one final chance to recreate the jaw-dropping individual artistry that we all know he has, with one of his biggest fans, Jones, there to guide him back to his brilliant best.

LuaLua’s signing is a curious one, however, from a tactical perspective.

Much of Jones’ success has come from a high-pressing 3-5-2 shape which immediately rings alarm bells when it comes to LuaLua’s position. The Congolese became synonymous with the right-footed winger off the left, cutting inside onto his stronger foot looking either for that driven shot or curler into the far corner, or a teasing inswinging cross in towards a team-mate leaping like a salmon at the far stick.

That doesn’t mean to say that LuaLua couldn’t take his man on down the line as well - oh no, his unpredictability was one of his greatest assets - but it was what he became most renowned for. Defenders, spectators, and managers alike knew what he wanted to do. The issue was that almost no-one could stop it.

And so that brings us to Jones’ winger-less 3-5-2. Where will LuaLua fit into that? Naturally, his first appearances will be those of cameos from the substitutes bench as he rebuilds his fitness, but even off the bench, where does he come in? Would his introduction mean a formational switch-up, sacrificing a midfield body or a centre-back for a winger to be more aggressive in an affair where the Addicks are down? Does he drop into one of the two striking spots in the 3-5-2 and maraud freely, with the licence to drift into those wide berths and take defenders on, or could he even drop behind the more natural striker, and craft out chances with his powerful dribbling from deeper positions, in Adel Taarabt-esque fashion?

It is difficult to see LuaLua dislodging either Tennai Watson or Thierry Small as one of the wing-backs - no matter how much of a threat he is going forward (and how much you would want to crowbar him into the side) - especially with his lack of defensive nous. It is also tricky to envisage a situation where Jones disrupts the formula that he has had so much success with, both in his previous jobs and currently in south east London, where he is slowly but surely guiding Charlton into mid-table safety.

LuaLua is one of those infamous ‘luxury’ players, as it were. He needs to be in a system that befits him and his skillset, as well as a full-back behind him that doesn’t mind picking up more defensive slack.

That, to a former Premier League side mired in League One mid-table mediocrity, might not sound the most appealing, but the ‘luxury’ facet of LuaLua is that he can be devastating. At full speed, running directly at his opposing full-back, he can be frightening with his tricky feet and unpredictability going either way, outside or in.

He is the profile of player football fans pay to see; he has that arrogance about him that you need to really be a special talent. If you can unlock that star from all the complexities that have befallen him, he will not disappoint.

With a name like Kazenga LuaLua, you have to be different. He stands out on the team sheet, and he is a maverick on the football pitch in the way he plays. There is no risk aversion about him when he is in the mood, and we need to see those acrobatic goal celebrations once more.

He is a throwback to the old-skool wingers of the noughties. One where his name is mentioned and everyone nods in agreement. “Some player, he was.”