Charlton Athletic & Leicester City interested in 13-goal free agent striker | OneFootball

Charlton Athletic and Leicester City are both interested in bringing Mikael Mandron back to the EFL this summer

Charlton Athletic survived in the Championship at Leicester City's expense last season, and both are looking to retool their forward line ahead of the 2026/27 campaign.

The Addicks were amongst the lower-scoring sides in the second tier, with just Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers netting fewer than their 44 last season.

Meanwhile, while Leicester were able to score 14 more than Charlton, it's expected that the majority of those goalscorers will no longer be at the King Power Stadium ahead of their upcoming League One term.

Jordan James has returned to Rennes, Abdul Fatawu is of interest to West Ham, and Jordan Ayew was released at the end of his contract this summer — those three were the only ones to score more than five times in league action last season.

So, both teams are on the lookout for some new strikers who can make an impact and score the goals to shoot them up the Championship and engineer a swift second-tier return, respectively.

Charlton Athletic and Leicester City register interest in Mikael Mandron

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Mikael Mandron is officially a free agent after his contract with Scottish Premiership side St Mirren ran out on June 30, and both Charlton and Leicester are interested in bringing the French frontman to their club, per Pete O'Rourke.

The 31-year-old is no stranger to the EFL, with over 225 appearances across all three divisions, the majority of which came in Leagues One and Two with Colchester United, Crewe Alexandra and Gillingham.

Mandron was a solid, if not remarkable, frontman during his time in England. His best season saw him net 11 times in the third tier for Crewe, but his last three seasons up in Scotland have seen the Frenchman start to find some good form.

He scored 13 and assisted a further 10 goals in all competitions for St Mirren last season. Seven of those goals came in their League Cup-winning run, including a brace and an assist in the semi-finals against former club Motherwell.

Mandron did only find the back of the net four times in league action, but was an integral part of Craig McLeish's side, and is looking to take that momentum across the whole season into a move back to the EFL.

How Charlton Athletic and Leicester City fans are reacting to Mikael Mandron links

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Despite his career year last season, there are a few sceptics amongst Charlton and Leicester fans surrounding the links between their clubs and Mandron, especially Addicks fans, as the 31-year-old has made just three Championship appearances in his career.

Charlton fans' resentment of the potential signing was louder than their former second-tier peers, with some taking to the comments to beg that the Foxes would sign him ahead of them.

"In a 13-year career, only hit double figures 3 times...woeful for a striker and 31 years old...bottom of the barrel," another Addicks fan said.

"We should be aiming for better than this now!" another added, outlining what the majority of their fans feel. Evidently, if Charlton are to push further away from a relegation battle next season, these are the signings that they should avoid.

As for Leicester, the feelings are mutual, and even with Mandron's League One experience, Foxes fans believe that they should be able to target better options to replace the raft of outgoing quality this summer.

"4 goals in 31 games in the Scottish league, no thank you!" were amongst the replies from a Leicester perspective, reflecting that, despite his 23 goal contributions last season, they can be relatively misleading from a pure league standpoint. "4 league goals all season?" another said.

Evidently, neither side has taken these rumours well online, and are hoping that, if Mandron does make his way back to the EFL this season, it's to a club that they don't support.