Charlton won’t risk striker prospect against Wycombe – as boss talks about squad requirements for next season

Miles Leaburn has not been ruled out of Charlton’s home game against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.

The 19-year-old striker scored his ninth goal of the campaign in last weekend’s win at Morecambe.

But Leaburn, on Chelsea’s books as a youngster, was replaced at half-time.

“It’s a day-to-day thing with Miles,” Charlton boss Dean Holden told the South London Press. “His symptoms seem to be settling down as the week goes on. We’ll have to make a call later in the week if he is fit enough to come back into the squad again.

“He was feeling something at half-time, in terms of his hamstring, and he’s had issues previously. We were never going to take the risk with him. You can’t take a risk with a young player like that – the size of him and the speed he plays at.

“Hopefully it’s not as bad as first thought.

“He’s still growing into his body and adapting to men’s football. The speed and explosiveness that he plays with, we’ve got to be very mindful of it. He’s such a really talented young player and we’ve got to be careful, when you talk about over-use and overloading.

“Maybe it is something that people don’t want to hear, but you’ve got to be really mindful of it – particularly with the young players when they come in. It’s his first season in men’s football.

“You have to make sure the players are looked after. There is a lot of pressure and stress, not just physically byt psychologically as well. Miles has had a brilliant season. We’re really pleased with where he is at.”

Lucas Ness is also missing after suffering a patella tendon knee injury.

Holden, speaking on Tuesday, said: “Hopefully by tomorrow we’ll have a good idea on that. He was due to see the specialist today. We’ll have some news later in the week in terms of where he’s going to be.

“The physio doesn’t think it is as bad as it could’ve been but there is something there on the scan on his patella tendon. We just need the specialist to give us a bit of a steer really.”

Coventry City loanee Todd Kane (hamstring) could be back in the first-team training fold next week.

Corey Blackett-Taylor is sidelined with a hamstring injury as Holden contends with a number of players being ruled out – including striker Chuks Aneke.

“It’s not ideal and we are asking questions about picking up little things here and there,” said Holden. “I think you have to look at the bigger picture and go back to pre-season last year – the conditioning that the players did.

“We’re going through the pre-season programme right now. Not just the dates we start back but the off-season programme that a player will get personalised. Then when they come back in, when we go on tour, how many minutes they are going to play in each game before the start of the season. It is a big part of leading into a successful season, getting pre-season right.

“I wasn’t here last season, so I can’t comment. But certainly next season we want a squad that is resilient, robust and conditioned well enough to go all season. We want the majority of our players to be able to play Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday – we’ve had issues this season and a lot of talk about whether this player can play three games a week, things like that.

“There is a lot to look at in terms of building a squad for next season, for sure.”

PICTURES: KYLE ANDREWS