Charlton Athletic putting transfer plans in place – as boss Lee Bowyer reveals summer hope

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Lee Bowyer says Charlton’s transfer plans for the summer are already taking shape.

The Addicks still need to secure Championship safety and can take a major step closer to achieving that goal if they defeat Luton Town on Saturday.

Bowyer is hoping that now East Street Investments are in control of the SE7 outfit it will mean greater financial freedom than under Roland Duchatelet.

“Going on past seasons we haven’t really done too much in the summer – it’s always been towards the end [of the window that deals got done],” said the Addicks boss. “We’ll know before the end of the season what’s going on – we will have plans for if we’re in the Championship or in League One.

“We did the same last year, we had different targets for each division.

“We’ll be on top of it. We start planning now – putting names on the board and trying to line some stuff up.”

Charlton are operating on the lowest budget in the Championship.

The only fee they paid this season was for Macauley Bonne, but a £200,000 deal for the striker had been lined up with Leyton Orient before the Addicks had even won promotion.

Charlton only did loan deals in the January transfer window.

Asked if he hoped to spend more heavily in the summer of 2020, Bowyer said: “I hope so. That’s what we need.

“If we want to be competitive in this division, which is what I want to be, then we need to spend money – we have to.”