Charlton Athletic boss explains why he turned down loan interest in striker
Charlton have turned down heavy loan interest in Macauley Bonne – with boss Lee Bowyer believing it is best for the striker’s development for him to stay in SE7.
The 23-year-old striker scored 23 goals in the National League for Leyton Orient last season and made a £200,000 switch to the Addicks in the summer.
Bonne has played just six minutes of Championship football this season – his only start coming in the League Cup defeat to Forest Green Rovers.
Bowyer spoke to Bonne last week about his plans.
The Addicks chief explained: “I said to him: ‘The easy thing for me to do is let you go on loan and play games – you probably would get experience’. But he is a project for us. He is improving all the time.
“There are small details we are passing on to him and over a short space of time he has taken them on board straight away and it’s making him better.
“If I send him somewhere where they are not going to ask the same of him then he is not going to get to the level we want him to.
“So for now we are going to keep him and re-evaluate in January. We’ll see where we are and he is.
“It could be then that we do say: ‘Go on now – go out and score some goal, because you are going to play the way we want you to play’.
“In the meantime he is still going to get chances for us. This is the best thing to do.”