Charlton Athletic manager Dean Holden says he is unconcerned by the fact that striker Macauley Bonne has only signed a short-term contract with the club.

Following his release from QPR earlier this month, Bonne returned to Charlton, where he previously made 40 appearances and scored 12 goals between 2019 and 2020.

However, the 27-year-old has only signed a short-term deal with the club until the end of the season, meaning he could leave The Valley for free as soon as this summer.

Now though, it appears that is now something that is causing Holden to worry, with the Addicks boss seemingly not ruling out an extended stay at the club for the striker.

Discussing the length of Bonne's contract with the League One club, the Charlton manager told The South London Press: “It’s the right deal, at the right time for Macauley.

"For me it is about looking at where we are in the league table, where we were when I first came in, and how we can improve the squad. Macauley Bonne improves the squad, first and foremost, in the present.

“We’ll deal with the longer term once we get through this period of time. The full concentration is on where we’re at, at the moment.

"I understand why people get interested in lengths of contracts and things like that. He’s hungry to come and do well – that’s really important to me.

"He’s going to come here and doing everything he can to get his career going again, essentially."

Bonne made his second debut for Charlton as a substitue in their 2-0 win over Barnsley on Saturday, that leaves them 12th in the League One table, six points adrift of the play-offs.

The Verdict

You do feel as though this is the right approach for Holden to take with regards to Bonne's future.

It is of course, worth remembering that Charlton signed Bonne for free this time around, so if they lose him for free in the summer, they have not really missed out on a significant return on their investment.

Indeed, now that Bonne has completed that move, it would make sense to allow him to focus on his football for the time being, and helping the Addicks to climb the League One table.

If he does that, and enjoys his time there, as he likely will if a move proves successful, then Charlton could well be in a decent position to secure an extended deal in the summer for him anyway.