Deji Elerewe signs pro contract
This was a nagging concern wasn’t it but today young defender Deji Elerewe signed a professional contract with the club until 2024.
The 18-year has been involved with the first team since pre-season and has impressed those that have watched him. He joined our academy at 13.
I’m sure this has been in the works for a while, but Deji’s worth has risen since the injury to Sam Lavelle and hopefully he gets to play in the FA Cup game on Saturday.
This is what normal clubs do mind, and we have been bloody awful at tying down our youngsters but it does follow the blueprint that Thomas Sangaard has laid out.
My real hope is that we get to see Deji make a real name for himself over a period of time in an Addicks’ shirt before he moves higher, because he looks very much like he can.
Chicago Addick 
He is a good player, his composure and distribution really stand out. I am surprised he is not a regular first team player already. I am sure he will be playing in the two cup games and I hope to see him in the league more often. In the first game I saw him, a couple of his long passes out were so good it took me a while to convince myself it was deliberate.
Great news as from the few games he played in the first team, where he was selcted ahead of Pearce due to Innis injury, he looked class and hardly made a mistake. But as soon as Lavelle was signed he was suddenly completely dropped from the first team by Adkins and not even put on the bench!
It could well be why he wasn’t signing a new contract, as no doubt his agent was saying some premier clubs are now looking at you, you’ve played really well when called upon and yet you have been dropped by Adkins, whilst the team are going downhill and in the relegation places etc, etc.
Jackson comes in, tells every player they all have a chance as they are all starting from scratch. He then turns the team completely around with things and its now looking upwards, and Elewere is restored to the bench as soon as Lavelle was injured. Elerewe signs several days after saying he loves it at Charlton, which to be fair, he has always implied.
Coincidence? I don’t believe so, as well as begining to look like a good manager, Jackson has the respect, which is earned not bought, plus he knows how to treat the players, I think if Adkins had of stayed, Elerewe would have been on his way no matter what!
@ga442 @Mike I haven’t seen much of him. Would he fit into a back three, and if so, where?
He is a Centre back and looked on the occassions he played better than Lavelle, Pearce and Famewo. As considering he is only 17 hes a big lad and appears very commanding, not frightened to get stuck in, very quick (something we lack with all our centre backs) and can bring the ball out and looks to actually pass the ball forward along the ground to another player, rather than our normal just hoofing it up forward anywhere &/or to reach Stockley!
All in all a very assured player, who on his current showing could be another real find, which as you have stated and we all agree, Charlton usually slip up and don’t offer contracts until too late and we lose them for peanuts.
He could be just the ticket to really tighten the defence up along with Famewo, as Pearce, whilst showing real determination and guts, is really too slow and too much of a liability now and Inniss we will probably only see when fit, for a couple of games before he is injured again and Lavelle will be out for quite a while.
Elewere is a very good prospect but is still an U18 and not fully developed physically, he should play for the first team but needs to be looked after and not overplayed. Carl Leaburn was thrown into the first team in the 1980s when we were in a relegation fight. He sustained an injury in his first game at Newcastle which we won. That injury blighted the rest of his career so he never fulfilled his full potential. I don’t want the same to happen to Elewere. He is technically as good as Gomes and Konsa were at the same age but not as physically developed. You only have to look at the injuries our central defenders have suffered in the last year or so, Pearce, Innis, Famewo and Lavelle have all had lengthy spells on the sidelines.