Reece Burke joins
If Reece Burke can stay fit then he will be a hell of a signing. How often have we *insert name* said that in previous seasons?
Reece Burke today completed his signing from Luton on an undisclosed fee. He has signed a 2-year contract plus a year club option.
A right sided centre-back, less of a wing back it seems, will compete with Kayne Ramsey, unless Nathan Jones feels Kayne is an answer for us at right-wing-back. Alex Mitchell is also a right-sided CB.
There are no denying Burke’s qualities and if he could play more games he’d still be playing in the Premier League. He has a great build, is a calming influence, good one-on-one and moves the ball really well.
17, 22, 20, 27 are the number of league games Burke has played during each of the past four seasons. At 28 he has played 300 games though and did play 104 league games for Hull prior to signing for Luton.
Burke came through West Ham’s academy at the same time as Josh Cullen, and had loans earlier in his career at Bradford, Wigan and Bolton. The latter two in The Championship.
Nathan Jones clearly rates him, and knows him and his frailties plus we now have the medical structure in place to make this signing a positive one. It is said that post Jones Luton did not manage Burke very well. Also, unlike Chuks for example, Burke’s injuries have not been the same so there appears no apparent recurring problem.
Another question that lingers is, is this one Luton Town player too far. Time will tell, welcome Reece.
In Charluton we trust…
A warm welcome to Reece. I have heard others speak highly of the ex-Luton players that we have signed.
Keillor Dunn is the only outstanding rumour that I am aware of. That would be a significant statement of intent.
Young lad from Galatasaray as well. Also a defender.
I fear a name change for the club in the offing….Charluton Athletic F.C….
CA No matter how good a player he can be, Charlton, including Jones when he arrived, said they could mange Chucks injuries, well that never really happened! 🙂
So we could well be paying out wages for yet another player who can’t last even half a season!
Plus who’s next from Luton on Jone’s list, we will soon have half their team!
I’m up for Alfie D.
Totally agree CA he should have been the one Luton player we should have signed rather than all the others!
But then, he had never played for Jones before! 🙂
He is valued a lot higher.. rumours around £8mill. So would be unlikely..
Apparently a very good player when fit. I hope that Alex Mitchell stays as I see him as an old fashioned No.5 and cover for Lloyd Jones.
Does anybody know what is happening with the U21s as I cannot find information on their preseason fixtures? No sign of matches on websites of Maidstone, Tonbridge Angels or Chatham Town which are frequently played by our U21s preseason.
Good question @rierti. The OS is very lax on U21 and Academy news. I have only seen this U21 pre-season game:
July 12th AFC Whyteleafe v Charlton Athletic
Few more U21 pre-season games upon research:
Sat 19th July – Oxford City away
Tues 29th July – Hastings Utd away
Totally agree rierti, Mitchell has had a few poor moments, but he is young but is someone who steps up to the plate and doesn’t shy away, which is what Jones like about him, as you said an old fasioned No 5, when he signed him. That game he came in for after being left out in the cold for a longtime, when he made a couple of mistakes which cost a goal, he could have easily folded, but he didn’t, he got stuck in and really played well and scored, yet he wasn’t even on the bench for the next game!!! Unfortunately I think Jones will let him go, as he doesn’t like players, reporters or the like who challenge or question his decisions, similar to May. As from talking to a family member of a certain well known reporter sometime ago, its more or less his way or your on your way and I can easily see that Mitchell wouldn’t shy away in questioning why he had been totally dropped and didn’t even get a place on the bench!
I think Alex Mitchell will be moved on, rarely played in starting XI in the second half of the season.
I am interested to see if Zak Mitchell gets in the squad. He was astounding for St.Johnstone when on loan. He played in the centre of a 3.
Tend to agree with you Red-Eye. More likely Zack will form part of the squad than Alex.
Zack is better suited to RHS of a back 3 as he is a little short for a No.5 but he played well for St.J as a 5