Charlton Athletic reject Brentford bid for talisman Lyle Taylor

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Charlton Athletic have rejected Brentford’s bid for star striker Lyle Taylor.

The Bees are thought to have made an offer in excess of £2million for the former AFC Wimbledon man, who scored 25 goals for the SE7 outfit on their way to League One promotion.

But the South London Press has been told that the Addicks have turned down the bid.

Greenwich-born Taylor is inside the final 12 months of his contract with Charlton and manager Lee Bowyer had told our paper straight after the club’s play-off final victory at Wembley that he expected there to be interest in the frontman, who is a huge fans’ favourite and won the Player of the Year award.

Taylor’s exit would be a major blow to Bowyer, who is already facing a huge challenge to compete in the Championship with owner Roland Duchatelet not prepared to match other Championship clubs in terms of either transfer fees or wages.

And losing such a hugely influential figure would leave Charlton down to the bare bones in terms of frontline options. Macauley Bonne has arrived in a £200,000 deal from Leyton Orient but is viewed as a striker who needs developing into the full package while Chuks Aneke, viewed more as a number 10, has been missing since the friendly at Gillingham due to injury.

Bowyer, speaking to the South London Press in May, said: “Yeah, I think that clubs will come in for him [Taylor]. But the good thing on our side is that he loves it here. He is in London and playing in the Championship. They are three things that are a positive for us.

“We’re definitely going to be offering Lyle a new deal. It is one of those situations where it is going to be Lyle’s decision – whether it is going to be attractive enough for him to sign it.

“Like I keep saying, we have got a budget and he has done so well. So there are going to be other clubs looking at him, like a lot of our players. That is the problem when you do well and improve them – it attracts other clubs. That is just the way the game works – unfortunately we lost Karlan. We couldn’t control that.”