In-depth with Gassan Ahadme on ‘project’ Charlton Athletic and how former Chelsea star Hasselbaink and Neil Harris helped his game

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

If Gassan Ahadme was not driven then the striker could very easily have stayed in his comfort zone at Premier League new boys Ipswich Town.

But when you do a bit of digging on the Barcelona-raised 23-year-old then you quickly realise why that was never going to be the case.

Millwall boss Neil Harris, who managed Ahadme when he was on loan at Cambridge United last season, says that the frontman is one of the best professionals he has worked with.

Ahadme has a ferocious desire to improve himself – physically and also in terms of his career on the pitch – with a fearsome work ethic to match. And the former Moroccan youth international reckons that his summer move to Charlton Athletic, arriving last month for an undisclosed fee, will only help with his ambitions of playing at the highest level.

“I really take care of myself,” said Ahadme, when asked by the South London Press about his fitness regime, a smile breaking across his face when he hears about Harris’ compliment. “I’m really dedicated.

“I work as hard as I can – not only because I want to look good but because I know if I do that then it is going to help me perform. That is ultimately what I really want to do – look good on the pitch. That is the end product.

“Now that I’m here I work with the performance people. Everything I do is overseen by them, so they advise me. We have a plan.

“I don’t just do stuff by myself, like maybe I’ve done in the past. Here there is a really good structure and people with real knowledge. I have really good facilities to take my work to the next level. There are people that know more than me and they can advise me.

“I love striving to be better every day. What you can do today, why leave that for tomorrow? I live every single day trying to improve myself.”

Ahadme’s initial move to England came after turning heads for Gimnastic Manresa. Then 18, he finished top scorer in a Spanish junior league that featured Barcelona and was signed by Norwich in 2019.

A loan to Real Oviedo followed in 2021, only for surgery on a broken metatarsal bone in his foot to then get infected. Ahadme had 13 operations during the period he should have played at Oviedo.

“The infection was really, really bad,” he said. “I had my first two operations in Barcelona, because it was the Covid year. I had the choice of having it repaired in Barcelona or England – but if I  came back I had to quarantine for 21 days first, because those were the rules. I wanted to speed it up so it was done in Barcelona, because I was born and raised there. It was ideal for me.

“I don’t know what happened after the first operation but then I had a second because I got a nasty, nasty infection. It started eating my skin and tendons around my foot. I basically had a hole. It was getting worse – I had the rest of the 11 operations here in London.

“It was worrying. They couldn’t tell me what would happen and whether I would get back, because the infection was getting near to my bone – and if it did then it was game over. It didn’t in the end and everything was fine. But it was a long, long process.”

Ahadme feels his game has kicked on working under Harris, Millwall’s all-time record goalscorer, at Cambridge, as well as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink at Burton Albion.

Three goals in six League One games at the start of the 2022-23 season under Hasselbaink, who flopped as an Addicks player, led to Ipswich moving for him on deadline day.

“Jimmy took my game to the next level,” said Ahadme. “That opening month was really good and it was how I got the move to Ipswich.

“I had some really good moments at Cambridge, especially when Neil Harris came in. My goal ratio was really good under Neil.

“Jimmy really put emphasis on my hold-up play. I also remember at the beginning of last season at Cambridge I was running too much and working too hard, at times. Neil told me to focus on the two or three things that he wanted me to do as his striker.

“We clicked from day one. I had a really good relationship with that man and it helped on the pitch.”

Now comes the next chapter at Charlton Athletic. Ahadme’s appetite for hard work looks to make working with Nathan Jones a marriage made in heaven.

“Ipswich’s promotion meant I had to get out of there,” said Ahadme. “It would have been really, really hard for me to stay and play in the Premier League.

“Ultimately I wanted a place I could really develop and have people that they can really help me get to that next level, because that is what I know I can do.

“That’s why I came here. When they showed me the project – especially the manager and the pedigree that he has had before working with others strikers – I really felt attracted to that.

“I want to work under him and try and get as much from him, along with his coaching staff.

“I want to play at, and do, the next level. I think with time, and improvement, it will come – 100 per cent.

“I keep personal targets to myself but I’m aiming high. I’m not here to be a passenger. I’m here because I believe in the project and the club – where they want to go. I want to be on the same level.

“League One is going to be carnage this season – really tough. But we need to be challenging to get promoted, 100 per cent. That’s the aim.

“From what I can see in the team, there is nothing else in their mind or mine’s.

“I wasn’t here before but I’m not planning to have another season in mid-table.

“It is such a big club. New manager, new ideas, a lot of new players – it is looking good, but we need to attack the season.”

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