Eagles didn’t dare to land!

Chris Eagles’ loan did not materialise today despite Charlton and Bolton agreeing wage commitments on the winger who is reported to be earning 30k a week! One would assume that Eagles preferred to count his money sat on the bench at the Reebok.

To be fair to Duchâtelet, Eagles completes a long list of loan deals that Charlton had offered complete with hefty financial obligations. Shaun Wright Phillips, Connor Wickham, Leon Best and Jonny Williams were all more than paper talk but for reasons best known to themselves neither one of the players wanted to come.

Apart from Eagles all of the others found homes elsewhere, although Wickham was recalled once more by Sunderland. Would a relegation scrap and a dog of a playing surface put players off? Would an unknown gaffer turn a player off? Would recent uncertainty at the club concern a player looking to get game time and put himself in the shop window?

Maybe a little bit of all of those reasons and if a player or his agent did any research, then they may also have figured that The Valley hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for loanees these past few seasons.

Marcus Tudgay today returned to a somewhat disorientated City Ground no doubt thinking the same. I welcomed Tudgay as a Championship-proven player when he appeared on the eve of the QPR game and I don’t think he did anything wrong, but he didn’t get any minutes under Riga and today his loan was cut short.

Nonetheless Riga did manage to add a player to join Jonathan Obika and finalise the head coach’s options for the relegation fight ahead when Davide Petrucci joined from Manchester United until the end of the season.

It is a name I had never heard before until today, but the 22-year old is said to be well regarded at Old Trafford after they snatched him from Roma’s academy, rather controversially, four years ago. How is that so you may ask when other United academy graduates of a similar vintage are more recognizable. Adnan Januzaj, Jesse Lingard, Michael Keane, Federico Macheda for example and if Man U are so rubbish why does David Moyes want to loan him to us?

Well Petrucci was considered to be a future star at Roma, but Man U did as big clubs do and pretty much stole him from Italy and paid a pittance for his signature and even according to Wiki gave his Dad a job to sweeten the deal!

However despite starting his Man Utd career well, Petrucci struggled with a series of injuries. He played almost no part of the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons and then what began as a promising loan to Darren Ferguson’s Peterborough last season was also cut short by a hamstring injury.

Petrucci recovered well though and spent the first half of the season playing regularly for Antwerp in the Belgium 2nd Division where I sense a connection.

On his return to Old Trafford at Christmas he was appointed captain of their U21 Development team.

Petrucci looks to have played right across the front line and in a deeper midfield role. Riga looks as if he likes his attacking players to be able to play in a fluid system and one would think that the Italian’s versatility would appeal to the Belgian.

I still would’ve liked to have seen Eagles and some width, but would rather any day have a player prepared to improve his career in a Charlton shirt than a player happier to waste his career in the stiffs.

Welcome Davide and good luck.