The Charlton Athletic director of football Steve Gallen has admitted that Arsenal ‘were probably right’ not to send one of their players to The Valley.
Gallen revealed that Charlton had looked to sign the young Arsenal striker Tyreece John-Jules in the summer transfer window.
But the Gunners and John-Jules ultimately decided that his short-term future lay at Doncaster Rovers.
And speaking in depth with London News Online this week, Gallen said he can understand Arsenal’s reasoning.
“The Arsenal lad, Reece John-Jules, was someone we wanted to sign. But at that stage we had £1,300 [a week] to spend,” he said.
“And I think Arsenal probably looked at the stuff behind the scenes at our club – to the outside it is in disarray and the fans are talking about we could be days away from administration and being kicked out of the league. They could’ve been right but internally you don’t always know those things; you go tunnel vision and focus on convincing Arsenal to send their player to us because we’re going to make them a better player – like we did with Conor Gallagher, Jay Dasilva and Josh Cullen.
“I think Arsenal felt we weren’t in the right position at that time, and they were probably right.”
John-Jules made a positive start to his spell at Charlton’s League One rivals, scoring or assisting two goals in his first five appearances – finding the net against the Addicks of all clubs.
But the 19-year-old has been absent since October with a thigh injury.
John-Jules has yet to play for Arsenal at senior level, despite boasting a prolific scoring record below the first-team.
The Arsenal midfielder Ben Sheaf enjoyed a successful stint at Rovers last season.
Arsenal fans – were the Gunners/John-Jules right to swerve Charlton?
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