"The future of the club" - Michael Hector issues honest message on Charlton Athletic team-mate | OneFootball

After a difficult six months or so as a free agent Michael Hector signed a deal until the end of the season at Charlton Athletic on deadline day.

The 30-year-old has started the Addicks' last five matches on the bounce ahead of this evening's trip to Morecambe.

Charlton have not yet won a match that Hector has started but, considering the opposition in the run, only conceding six goals in the five games has been a respectable effort.

Lucas Ness is having a breakthrough season with the Addicks and is establishing himself as one of the first names on the team sheet building towards next season.

The 21-year-old will learn a lot from playing alongside someone of Hector's pedigree and the former Chelsea man was very complimentary about Ness' potential when he spoke to the Addicks' media team.

He said

"He trains really well and obviously he plays well.

"His performances have been getting better since I've joined and he's a credit to the club and obviously he's the future of the club.

"It's important that he learns and that's what he's been doing, obviously we've had tough games this past month, he's stepped up to the plate each game.

"Obviously with what happened at Plymouth, it was a mistake (losing possession for Ryan Hardie to score just after half time), but he didn't let it affect him after that and he had another strong game.

"For me, he's been playing really well."

The Verdict

Ness' emergence has been a huge bonus for the Addicks this season who played the majority of the first half of the campaign without him in their plans.

Ness returned from a loan spell at Torquay United in the National League in late November and has gone on to nail down a starting berth at the heart of defence.

With Hector, Ryan Inniss and Terell Thomas out of contract in the summer, Ness is the only centre back that supporters can feel confident will still be at the club next season, and with Ashley Maynard-Brewer and Miles Leaburn also becoming key first team players this season, the youth setup at the club has been possibly the main source of optimism this term.