Thomas Sandgaard aiming to quickly wrap up a deal for Charlton Athletic

Thomas Sandgaard is hopeful he can swiftly conclude a takeover deal for Charlton Athletic.

The 62-year-old Danish businessman, who owns medical company Zynex Inc, is in talks to purchase the League One outfit.

Sandgaard has held discussions with East Street Investments, who are in control of the football club, and Roland Duchatelet, who still owns The Valley and Sparrows Lane training ground.

Andrew Barclay announced earlier this afternoon that he had dropped out of looking to buy the Addicks as he could not open talks with Duchatelet about securing the two freeholds.

He also described Sandgaard as “by far the best option” to strike a deal.

And Sandgaard says he is yet to experience any real difficulties in his negotiations.

“Talks are progressing really positively,” he told the South London Press. “It looks like in theory everything could be done before the end of the week. The reality is often that you get surprises along the way.

“I had a really good conversation with Andrew Barclay this morning. He is definitely a nice guy and I appreciate getting to know him. He’s realising it is probably better to just have one party negotiating with all these characters surrounding the club.

“That’s what we’ve agreed to do. We’re all on the same page now.”

Sandgaard describes himself as “very flexible” on how the deal is structured.

He added: “But I’m also very focused on making sure that the team is playing its games at The Valley – that is very dear to my heart. I will make sure that happens.

“But other than that I’m very flexible negotiating and that’s also why I’m probably able to negotiate with all the characters in this deal. There is always a way, as long as you want to be flexible.

“Of course a lot of money is being discussed. It is about making sure people get their fair share but I think everyone is very reasonable at this point. The problem in the past is that there were persons involved who might not be so reasonable and that made it difficult. We all need to keep clear heads.”

Greenwich Council issued a statement to the South London Press spelling out they would fight any attempt to move Charlton out of the borough.

“For me it is about the Valley immediately and The Valley in the medium term,” said Sandgaard. “In the long term we could be doing so well in the Premier League that we need a stadium that is bigger and better than West Ham.

“But I have got no plans to do that. We’ve got to win some games first before anything else becomes a reality.”