Josh Edwards
Sounding as if there is some early transfer activity planned by the Addicks when the window opens on June 14th. This is exactly what Nathan Jones has hoped for.
Three players have been linked in the last day or two. Luke Berry, goalkeeper Will Mannion and Josh Edwards.
Edwards has impressed in the 2nd tier of Scotland for Dunfermline and plays as a left-wingback and capable of playing further forward. Known for the quality of his passing, but also a more than capable defender.
Edwards was in the Scottish L1 team, the year Dunfermline won promotion two seasons ago and again in the Scottish Championship team of the year for this past season.
He signed a contract extension with the Pars in January after they rejected a six-figure bid from Barnsley as other clubs down south monitored his progress. His contract runs until June 2025.
Said to be strong, quick, fit and good around the dressing room Edwards ticks a lot of Nathan Jones’ boxes. The 23-year old has played over 200 games in Scotland including at Airdrieonians before a move to Dunfermline five years ago.
Jones has said that he wants two first team players to compete with every spot, and with Thierry Small set to stay, then if Edwards does sign I’d expect Tayo Edun to leave.
Chicago Addick 
I assume from this that at least one of Tayo Edun or Thierry Small is on his way out, we don’t need three left-backs. Or maybe NJ is planning to push one of these players up the pitch and play left-wing.
My thoughts too. Hopefully the fuss around Small is irrelevant and we get him to have another season under Jones.
Jones doesn’t play with wingers, but I think he’d want one or two in his squad. We have Campbell but I reckon a player that has good distribution and is quick and can defend would be high on NJ’s list. Small and Edwards bring that.
As rierti said, very much in the Robinson and Newton mold, but far more physical which is required in Div 3.
Yep, he’s a 3-5-2 formation manager, but if we are going to play Miles Leaburn and Chuks Aneke it makes sense to have someone who can ping over a few crosses for them. Besides that we need a few players who can play to a Plan B or C formation if the preferred 3-5-2 isn’t working.
Another reason to like Josh Edwards is that he’s been relatively injury free in his career. NJ has talked about wanted a 24 man squad and if so we need players who are going to be reliable injury wise.
Having released Hector and Thomas I want to see a powerful central defender who is good in the air as a urgent signing.
I don’t think REG, Gillesphey, Jones and Ness are the answer although fair players they are all around the183cm height, for me the No.5 should be around 190cm. They can possibly fill the positions either side of the back three but not the 5.
Edwards appears to be useful and as he is a wingback maybe he could play either in front or behind Small on the left, as CBT has not been replaced. Under Curbs Robinson and Newton although nominally wingers took defensive duties seriously and were effective. I always thought of them as wingbacks playing in front of full backs.
Watson and Edun may be squad players and will be difficult to offload permanently so maybe loan out deals may be the best option. What is Asiimwe’s situation?. I can’t understand where he was the second half of this last season.
A new goalkeeper is also a priority as Isted and Maynard Brewer do not command the penalty enough.
Players from the academy who may feature during the season are Rylah, Bower, Kedwell, Mitchell and Laqeraterbua. They all with the exception of Kedwell had serious injuries the last season limiting their progress. Casey is catching the eye as a great finisher but he needs to improve the technical side of his game. Players from the U18s who are worth watching as they graduate to the U21s are McLorg (goalkeeper), Gough (central defender). Mbick although still a second year U18 may well feature in the U21s because of his physical presence. There are several players in the U18s who have technical ability but need time to mature physically. Fullah, Mwamba and Wales are good examples.
Always good to get your insight on the academy players rierti, thanks.
Agree on a commanding and an experienced keeper being on the top of my list as well.
A good summary…
Nathan Asiimwe is under contract for two more years – up to June ’26. I don’t know why he didn’t feature under NJ, it might simply be that Kayne Ramsay and Tennai Watson were just ahead of him. Hopefully he’ll get loaned out if we aren’t going to play him regularly.
The thing I did not understand about Asiimwe was if considered behind Ramsey and Watson ,fair enough ,but why did he not play regularly for the U21s or go on loan to non league club. I don’t think he was injured.