Charlton Athletic boss explains why striker Dan Kanu has not been recalled from Southend loan

Charlton head coach Michael Appleton has explained why he has opted against recalling Daniel Kanu from his loan at Southend United.

The 19-year-old initially joined the National League club on a 28-day deal in October.

The Addicks are able to bring Kanu back now that initial period has passed but despite an injury to Chuks Aneke have opted to keep Kanu at Roots Hall.

The young frontman recently received his first senior call-up for Sierra Leone and came off the bench in their 2-0 defeat to Egypt in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday. Kanu was an unused substitute in the 0-0 draw against Ethiopa last week.

Honoured to have made my international debut for Sierra Leone 🇸🇱🫡. #godsplan🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/betSld0Vkl

— DK (@danielkanu_) November 19, 2023

“As much game time as possible is so valuable to Dan,” said Appleton. “When I first came into the club, I must admit, that one or two people who have worked with Dan before talked about how important it is for him to keep playing.

“He is one of those type of players who needs to play – he is a natural goalscorer.

“There are lots of things in his game that he needs to work on and needs to be better. He can be a bit messy at times in his link-up play but that will only improve and get better the amount of minutes he plays.

“From that point of view it is probably the right thing (to keep him at Southend).”

Our paper reported that Kanu had been offered new professional terms by Charlton.

“I think it is one of them that there are quite a few players that are in discussions with Andy (Scott) and the club,” said Appleton. “Absolutely we see him as an asset to the football club and we’ll try and look after that.”