Swindon Town were the clear winners of £800k Charlton Athletic deal: View

Nicky Ajose joined Charlton Athletic from Swindon Town in the summer of 2016, but the striker failed to live up to expectations at The Valley.

Following their relegation from the Championship the previous season, the Addicks made a few encouraging signings ahead of the 2016/17 League One season, including Northern Ireland international Josh Magennis, Northampton Town winger Ricky Holmes, and Wigan Athletic defender Jason Pearce. Russell Slade was appointed manager.

The most exciting new signing, however, was striker Nicky Ajose, who had scored 24 goals in the third division for Swindon Town during the 2015/16 season and was brought in to join an attack that included Magennis, Lee Novak, Ademola Lookman, and Karlan Grant.

Nicky Ajose’s statistics for Swindon Town (Transfermarkt)

Appearances

Goals

Assists

76

40

3

Charlton paid almost £800,000 to purchase Ajose, placing him in the top 25 most expensive League One players to date, according to Transfermarkt.com.

Nicky Ajose’s move to Charlton Athletic was more beneficial for Swindon Town

Ajose scored six League One goals for Charlton during the first half of the 2016/17 season, but he only scored two more before leaving the club in 2019.

Slade was fired by the Addicks in November 2016 following a 3-0 loss to Swindon, and his replacement, Karl Robinson, allowed Ajose to rejoin the Robins on loan for the remainder of the season in January 2017, with Tony Watt returning to SE7 after a brief stint at Heart of Midlothian.

That meant that despite receiving about £800,000 for the sale of Ajose, Swindon managed to keep him in their squad for half of the season. The striker scored five league goals in the second part of the season, and despite being relegated, the move was a beneficial one for the Robins.

Less than a week after Ajose’s move to Charlton was finalized, Swindon paid around £400,000 to recruit goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux from Liverpool, making the sale of the former Manchester United starlet appear even better.

Charlton concluded the season in a disappointing 13th place, with Ajose failing to lead the club’s promotion push following his much-anticipated arrival.

Nicky Ajose did have a couple of good moments in a Charlton Athletic shirt

Despite the fact that his Charlton career was largely dismal, with three loan spells during his three-year tenure, Ajose did have one or two bright spots.

After spending the first part of the 2017/18 season on loan at Bury in League Two, Ajose returned to Charlton in January and delivered his greatest performance for the club with only a few games remaining.

In April 2018, the Addicks were chasing a play-off spot under caretaker manager Lee Bowyer, and they sold out the away end at Fratton Park for a must-win game against Portsmouth with promotion chances on the line.

At the end of the first half, Ajose pounced onto a flick-on from Magennis and tucked the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper to secure a crucial 1-0 win, helping Charlton finish in the top six that season.

He scored his final league goal for the Addicks in a 2-1 victory at the same venue the following season, while on loan at Mansfield Town.

While Ajose had a few memorable moments in a Charlton shirt, the fact that he demanded a high fee, left the club on a free transfer, and never lived up to expectations in front of goal means that Swindon were the clear winners of the deal, especially given that he returned to the Robins just six months after his costly departure.

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