Charlton should seek to recreate Conor Gallagher & Ian Maatsen success with rising Chelsea star – It could ruin Peterborough’s season | OneFootball

Charlton Athletic should try to sign Peterborough United loanee Jimmy-Jay Morgan from Chelsea in the January transfer window.

EFL clubs will be beginning to step up their preparations ahead of the January transfer window, and Charlton Athletic should fall into that category with a complicated, but potentially brilliant move for Chelsea youngster Jimmy-Jay Morgan.

Following their promotion back to the Championship last season after winning the League One play-offs, Charlton have been very impressive in the second-tier thus far, challenging towards the very top end of the table.

Under the management of former Luton Town boss Nathan Jones, who committed his future to the club by signing a long-term contract extension over the summer, the Addicks have been able to assert themselves as more than good enough to compete and stave off relegation.

The aim will be to remain a Championship club for next season, but it isn’t out of the question that the South Londoners can put themselves into a position that, by January, they are able to be ambitious enough in the transfer market to have a genuine tilt at the top six.

They will likely require a little bit more quality and ingenuity in the final third to cement themselves as challengers, and one man that they should look to bring in is Chelsea man Jimmy-Jay Morgan, who is currently out on loan at Peterborough United.

Peterborough United will be fearing the departure of Jimmy-Jay Morgan

In the January transfer window of last season, League Two side Gillingham brought in Jimmy-Jay Morgan on a loan deal until the end of the season, and he impressed for the Kent-based outfit.

As a result, within a few months, he found himself already working his way up the leagues with a loan move to Peterborough United this summer; tasked with becoming the key creative threat for a Posh side that would have believed they would be challenging for promotion out of League One once again.

Instead, Peterborough have endured a miserable campaign in which they sit rock-bottom in the third tier, with just three victories in their 13 matches so far this season.

Having reluctantly parted company with Darren Ferguson and replaced him with former Notts County boss Luke Williams, one of Posh’s few bright sparks, Morgan, will be expected to continue to thrive with an even more attacking style of football.

Morgan is Peterborough’s top scorer across all competitions with four, and he has generally been very impressive for Posh so far this season, and it wouldn’t be a major shock to see him continue to be fast tracked through the divisions by Chelsea.

His departure would likely be regarded as disastrous for Peterborough, though, with relegation beckoning; and the fact it would be such a woeful thing for the club suggests just how good and important Morgan has been and is, with immense promise to go even further.

Charlton Athletic should position themselves to pounce on Jimmy-Jay Morgan

With his contract up at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2027, Chelsea will be keen to learn just how good the 19-year-old is, to either extract as much value as they can from him or accelerate his progress towards the first-team.

He proved within a few months that he was a level above League Two and, whilst not a level above League One, he is carving himself out as one of the more exciting players in the division for a team struggling beyond expectation.

If he was to be placed into a side that were reliant on a bit more of a creative spark but in a far more settled environment, pushing up the table, rather than last season’s stagnating Gills and this season’s struggling Posh, then it could further unlock his potential.

That is where Charlton would be the ideal landing spot for Morgan, and the Addicks will also have good memories of taking Chelsea youngsters on loan after the excellent signings of Ian Maatsen and Conor Gallagher in the recent past.

Maatsen joined on loan from the Blues for the 2020/21 campaign, standing out as a key man for an Addicks side that narrowly missed out on the top six and the play-off places.

After his time at The Valley, he immediately moved up to the second-tier with stints at Coventry City and Burnley; the latter of which he was a key man for the title-winning Clarets.

He has since played in a UEFA Champions League final for Borussia Dortmund and moved to Aston Villa from Stamford Bridge for big money.

Gallagher's 2019 arrival brought skepticism, but he soon established himself as one of the most exciting youngsters in the EFL, with an all-action midfield role for a relegation-battling Charlton side in the Championship.

After scoring six goals in 26 appearances for the South Londoners, and marking himself out as the fulcrum of their side, Chelsea recalled him in order to loan him to supposed promotion chasers Swansea City ahead of impressive Premier League loan stints at West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace.

After then establishing himself as a key player for Chelsea, he joined Atlético Madrid in the summer of 2024, and he also has over 20 caps for England, having been a part of their UEFA Euro 2024 squad that reached the final in Germany.

Both players will credit Charlton with the lift off that their impressive and still developing careers got, and Jimmy-Jay Morgan should recognise that, too.

Put into a team where the structure is nigh on perfect, in an upwardly mobile club looking for that little bit of attacking inspiration; Morgan could be a gem of a signing for a Championship club this winter and Charlton should try and put themselves to the front of the pack.