Departures
The biggest transfer news that came from The Addicks this window was the departure of the highly-rated England U19’s winger Ademola Lookman. The East Londoner left the club to join Premier League side Everton on a four-year deal, with Charlton gaining £11m from the transfer.
Besides Lookman, Charlton sold left-back Morgan Fox to Championship side Sheffield Wednesday for £700,000. The Welshman came through the youth system before making his debut in 2014, and made 116 appearances for the club.
These were the only departures that brought money into the club over the window, as the rest were either free transfers or loans.
In an unusual move, Charlton loaned out striker Nicky Ajose to League One competitors Swindon Town until the end of the season. The Nigerian returns to his former club in hope of rediscovering his scoring form.
The final departures saw right-back Kevin Foley join bottom of the table Coventry City on a free transfer, while out-of-form winger Igor Vetokele goes back to his homeland and join Belgium side Sint-Truiden on loan.
Arrivals
The main arrival for Charlton during the January period was Brighton’s Jake Forster- Caskey. The 22-year-old has scored nine goals in 82 appearances for The Seagulls after making his debut in 2010. Although the transfer is an undisclosed fee, it is likely that Caskey costed the club around £1m.
Another undisclosed fee was the signing of West Ham’s academy player Lewis Page. The 20-year-old left-back signed a two-and-a-half-year deal for the club. Manager Karl Robinson told the official club website: “he’s quick, likes to get forward and is a good crosser, I really like that in a full-back. We’re building a squad here to get into that top six and Lewis will be an important part of what we are trying to do.”
Besides these two signings, the remaining three were loan deals. These include Arsenal’s highly rated Stephy Mavididi who was The Gunners’ Under-21 top scorer last season with 17 goals in 30 games. The Addicks boss said that Mavididi has “certainly got the key components to succeed in what I call ‘real’ football”
The remaining two loan deals where for Chelsea’s Under-23 left-back Jay Dasilva and Wigan’s right-back Nathan Byrne.
It’s clear to see that boss Robinson is building for the future with a younger squad as the average age of players he brought in was 21 years-old whilst the average age of the departing players was 25 years-old.