Alfie Doughty's future has been subject to plenty of speculation this month but, recently, things have gone a little bit quiet involving the left-sided star.

Doughty has been injured for the last few months with a hamstring tear and that has badly limited his number of appearances this season.

However, he impressed last year in the Championship and has been tipped to head back to the second tier with AFC Bournemouth, Stoke and QPR reportedly among those taking a closer look.

Indeed, around a week ago Football Insider was claiming that Stoke had won the race to sign the player, with Lee Bowyer also revealing that whoever signed him this month would then return him to The Valley for the remainder of the season on loan.

Everything, then, was pointing to a pretty swift conclusion with this potential deal only around a week ago but, here we are, with few developments since.

Of course, these things can happen in a transfer deal where the last pieces of the puzzle take the longest to fit in, whilst Stoke, or whoever, may well be seeking assurances that the hamstring tear he suffered was treated well and won't plague him in the years to come.

Any number of things could be holding the move up but it does remain likely that Doughty will leave, perhaps to the disappointment of Charlton fans.

There's still well over a week left in this window, so let's see what happens in the coming days.