Charlton chief Nigel Adkins provides updates on fitness of three key players missing through injury and transfers

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Charlton boss Nigel Adkins will still have to play the waiting game before three members of his squad return to match fitness.

Ben Purrington, Alex Gilbey and Ronnie Schwartz have all yet to feature during the fledgling stages of the campaign.

Left-back Purrington suffered a hamstring problem during pre-season, whilst former Milton Keynes man Gilbey had previously tweeted that he had been suffering with Covid-19.

Danish forward Schwartz joined the group late during the summer and is still working his way back to fitness.

“Gilbey won’t be available for a couple of weeks yet,” explained Adkins after watching his side slip out of the League Cup following a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of AFC Wimbledon.

“Purrington is running better. We’re hoping maybe at the end of next week he joins back in training.

“Ronnie trained with the u23s today. We had a couple who did some running sessions and they had a footballing session so he’s progressing his level of fitness which is important.

“We need every player available as soon as possible. We’re a small group of players. You can see where we are, this is our squad. What we’ve got is a hard-working group who want to improve. We’ve got a good culture that will allow them to improve.”

Adkins had maintained that he still hopes to add some more bodies into his squad before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

When asked if any additions were likely or unlikely before this weekend’s trip to Oxford, he responded: “We will be bringing more players in,” before adding: “We will bring more players in before the transfer window shuts,” when asked if there was a timeline he could reveal.