"Who knows if..." - Charlton Athletic fan pundit highlights obstacle to permanent Ipswich Town deal | OneFootball

Highlights

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Ipswich Town striker Freddie Ladapo joined Charlton Athletic during the January transfer window.

The Town forward had struggled for game time since the club gained promotion to the Championship, earning just 350 minutes of game time from 17 appearances in the league (all stats from Fbref).

The 31-year-old has since made six appearances for the Addicks in League One, including five starts.

He has contributed one goal and one assist, with Nathan Jones’ side competing against relegation to the fourth tier.

Too early to determine Ladapo’s future

FLW’s Charlton fan pundit Ben Fleming believes it is too soon to decide whether a permanent move for Ladapo could be on the cards in the summer but raised the striker's wages a potential stumbling block.

He has claimed that the club’s league status may play a pivotal role, as relegation to League Two would surely end any chance of signing the forward on a long-term basis.

“I think it’s too early to say yes to Ladapo,” Fleming told Football League World.

“I think we saw in his first few games that he was still working his way up to match fitness, clearly didn’t get much game time at Ipswich.

“But when we signed him due to our injuries and we want him to play up top, so we had to sort of chuck him straight into the lineup.

“But, I think we saw off the bench against Lincoln in midweek that he’s slowly getting there, and he had a better impact off the bench than he did starting from the front.

“So, I think he’s clearly got proven quality in League One and if he can stay consistent and bang in goals for us and, crucially, we can stay up then I think yeah it’s probably one that the club will make permanent in the summer.

“If we go down, then I don’t think we’ll be able to afford his wages and then he probably wouldn’t want to play in League Two.

“I think if we stay up and he’s playing then yeah.

“Who knows if we can match his wages, but I’d like to think that he’d certainly be someone we looked at if he can play consistently between now and the end of the season, but right now it’s too early to say.”

Jones recently appointed Charlton boss

Charlton are fighting against the drop from League One this season, having recently appointed Jones as their third manager of the campaign.

The former Luton Town manager oversaw defeat in his opening game, a 2-0 loss to rivals Reading, before Charlton earned a point at home to Lincoln City last Tuesday.

The London club is in the mix near the bottom of the standings, and will be hoping Ladapo can power the team out of trouble.

Ladapo has chance to prove himself in coming months

Ladapo could be a regular player in this Charlton team in the coming months, especially with those injury issues.

If he can stay fit, then it will be in his hands to show to Jones and the club that he will be worth signing on a permanent basis in the summer.

However, if Charlton do go down then it is difficult to see him wanting to compete in League Two.

Ladapo still has plenty to offer at a third division level, having scored 17 in Ipwsich’s promotion season last year, so if he can replicate that form then he could be pivotal in the Addicks’ survival.