Charlton Athletic striker injury update as boss hopeful midfielder can make speedy return

Charlton Athletic striker Chuks Aneke is facing another spell on the sidelines after suffering a setback in his return from a calf injury.

The Addicks player was initially looking like he could return to their squad for last weekend’s Valley visit of Cambridge United.

But Aneke was sent for a fresh scan after complaining of an issue.

“He’s got a similar calf injury to what he had before but it’s actually a different site on the same calf,” Charlton boss Ben Garner told the South London Press. “We’re probably looking a similar length of time to the first one and hopefully he won’t have the relapse with it this time.

“Initially it was due to be three weeks and he ticked all the boxes and was back but then unfortunately has suffered another injury in that calf. We’ll probably be a touch more gradual with it but we shouldn’t be looking at months. We’ll certainly be looking at weeks.

“First and foremost our first port of call with Chuks at the moment is a bit of support for him because he is devastated by it. I know he’s had a number of injuries throughout his career and that is tough for anyone.

“We need to make sure he is in a good place from a mental health point of view and psychologically in a good place. Then we can rehab him from a physical point of view and hopefully get him back as quickly as we can.”

Garner does not expect any of his absent players to return for the EFL Cup tie against Walsall tomorrow night.

Corey Blackett-Taylor, who came off against Cambridge with ankle and knee issues, was being scanned this morning.

“We’ve got our fingers crossed and hoping for good news on that but we’ll know more later today,” said Garner.

“Conor McGrandles, we’re just waiting on a cast for him. Hoping that will be quicker than expected, in terms of his return to play. I would like to think he’d be back in the next fortnight, maybe even sooner. It just depends on the cast, how that feels and how comfortable he is with it. But other than that we’ll be where we were.

“We’re a bit stretched. I’m not sure that nine games in the first 30 days was the best way to go. We’ve got to get on with it. We’ll get a very competitive team on to the pitch and we’ll be looking to win that game.”