Charlton Athletic boss rules out move for Swindon Town star attacker Harry McKirdy
Charlton Athletic manager Ben Garner has described a move for Swindon Town attacker Harry McKirdy as “a non-starter”.
The 25-year-old scored 24 goals in 44 appearances for the League Two club last season.
And Garner has picked up a few of his former Swindon players since joining the Addicks this summer with goalkeeper Joe Wollacott, Mandela Egbo and Jack Payne all joining on free transfers.
But the Charlton boss has ruled out McKirdy as a viable option.
“Harry is a player who I admire a lot,” Garner told the South London Press. “He had a fantastic season last year. In my opinion he is certainly good enough for League One and he would be really good in our squad. But he is a contracted player at Swindon and I don’t have a transfer fee available to go and bid for him. At the moment that would be a non-starter for us.”
Garner has talked previously about the South London club needing some outgoings to free up funds for more incomings.
Without that he has spoken about just adding one more new face before the transfer window closes at the end of this month.
“In an ideal world I would like three more players in the squad,” said Garner. “I’d like another centre-back, another full-back and a forward. But within the budget we have got, and what is already in the building, we’re not going to be able to do that. I have to be realistic and work within the budget that has been set and the space that we have available in the squad.
“But that can change, you might get an offer for someone tomorrow and that might generate some money for us. So I’m always open to that. We’ll see how the next 10 days or so of the window goes.
“We are well-prepared in any eventualities. We have a shortlist of players we do like in each position that we’d like to move on, if not in this window then in the future. It’s just a case of seeing what happens in the closing stages of the window. You can think we might be done and it’s quiet and then things can change.”
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