Charlton boss not fretting over striker’s deal only running until the summer

Charlton Athletic manager Dean Holden is relaxed that Macauley Bonne’s deal only runs until the summer.

The striker, 27, signed for the Addicks last week. Bonne was a free agent after his QPR contracted was terminated by mutual consent.

He made his first appearance for the SE7 outfit in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Barnsley.

Bonne came on in the second half and ended up assisting Jesurun Rak-Sakyi for the second goal after his shot came off the left post and popped back invitingly for the Crystal Palace loanee.

“It’s the right deal, at the right time for Macauley,” Holden told the South London Press. “For me it is about looking at where we are in the league table, where we were when I first came in, and how we can improve the squad. Macauley Bonne improves the squad, first and foremost, in the present.

“We’ll deal with the longer term once we get through this period of time.

“The full concentration is on where we’re at, at the moment. I understand why people get interested in lengths of contracts and things like that. He’s hungry to come and do well – that’s really important to me. He’s going to come here and doing everything he can to get his career going again, essentially.

“We’ll benefit from that hunger and desire to score goals.

“He’s a player who will give defences a nightmare in terms of his work-rate and the way that he runs. He’s clearly a goalscorer, he has done that throughout his career. But he’s more than that – he presses from the front and is good around the training ground, he sets standards.

“We’re bringing players in and the term I’d use is cultural architects. It sounds a really big word, what is it? That’s someone who sets standards and demands standards all around them.

“We’re resetting standards. After the last few results we’re not taking our foot off the pedal, far from it. We’re demanding it every day and he is someone who will do that.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD