Bent over? Double

The quickfire signing of Darren Bent gave most of us cause to believe that Curbs and Murray really did have a half-dozen transfer targets ready to sign on the dotted line in time for pre-season training. However with July now upon us and the new fixtures in the calendar, we are again left wondering who is next and whether there may be unforeseen difficulties cropping up as some of our supposed targets (Kezman, Stead etc..) confirm moves elsewhere. However Jonathan Stead's quote relating to choosing Sunderland over us may just have been an early attempt to endear himself to the Mackems, and frankly the price paid (virtually double what Blackburn paid to Huddersfield) seemed excessive given his Leaburn-esque season.

The board are right not to risk bankrupting the club by ratcheting up wages, but the flipside clearly implies that some of the more illustrious names we are linked with will never become realistic signings. Indeed I wouldn't be surprised if some of the rather mediocre but fairly high-profile players that have changed clubs already this summer (Phillips, Berger, Forsell etc..) would have been rejected as potential signings for us on account of wage demands alone.

The alternative therefore is to continue to fish in the pool of highly promising non-Premiership players and cheaper foreign imports. Clearly Bent falls into the former category, and some other names mentioned as potential targets also (Jagielka, Sidwell etc..). These players may lack the immediate 'publicity' impact of some better-known names, but who is to say they won't be more successful pound-for-pound in the long-run? Our somewhat disappointing experience with Murphy/Jeffers/Rommedahl (all of whom were exciting signings on paper) suggests this may indeed be the case. I suspect most Charlton fans (myself included) didn't rub their hands with glee when the signings of Mills, Kinsella, and Hunt were confirmed but each proved to be hugely successful and outstanding value. Likewise, the lower-profile signings of Holland, Hreidarsson and El Karkouri have proved (so far) to have been solid business.

I have no doubt that we will indeed sign four or five more players before the opening day, but one has to hope they are our main targets, not the next-best alternatives. It is clear we need a commanding centre-back, a ball-winning midfielder, and a goalscoring striker (it is sad that we have to an adjective in the description since we have been starved of one since Super Clive retired). Less important signings would probably be extra goalkeeping cover and another central midfielder, preferably one with some pace. Charlton are commendably good at keeping deals quiet until confirmed (unlike Spurs for example), and hence one should expect to be surprised though with little else to keep fans occupied this summer, it is no surprise that the message boards are abuzz with a little disquiet.