Charlton Athletic striker Igor Vetokele looks set for SE7 stay

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Charlton Athletic striker Igor Vetokele looks set to stay at the club this season – with caretaker boss Lee Bowyer claiming there is no financial pressure to sell.

The forward has been out on loan to Zulte Waregem and Sint-Truiden in the past two seasons and still has 12 months to run on his contract.

Bowyer is confident he has the firepower in his squad with Lyle Taylor, snapped up on a free from AFC Wimbledon this summer, scoring in today’s 2-1 win over Welling United.

Vetokele played the second 45 minutes at Park View Road.

Bowyer said: “We’ve got Igor, who is like a new signing. He wasn’t in the building last year.

“From what I hear he is staying. He has been told if he wants to stay he can stay. And we spoke to him in Portugal and he said he wanted to stay, which is good for me.

“He’ll have to fight for his place, like everybody else. But what I saw today and at QPR, he is going to cause problems and score goals. He holds the ball up well, he makes good runs. He’s definitely someone that will do well for us next season.

“I’ve already for Nicky [Ajose] and Josh [Magennis] in the building. I’ll probably play Karlan [Grant] up there too.

“Do we need to strengthen in certain areas? For sure. We need to strengthen in midfield. We need to bring in a horrible midfielder, to win the ball and give it to ones who can play.

“We’re waiting on an answer [from one]. They asked for 48 hours, we gave them 48 hours and they’ve said can we stretch it another 48 – and that changed yesterday.

“We’ll know by Monday if that fella is coming in.”

PHOTO BY KEITH GILLARD