Aiden McGeady has been one of Sunderland’s most influential players during the last few seasons, with the attacker providing real technical ability, which offers him the capability of making a real impact on matches when he is at his best.

The 33-year-old was one of Sunderland’s most impressive and important performers last season, with McGeady managing to register an impressive tally of 11 goals and five assists in 35 appearances for the Black Cats – and that saw him play a major role in the club reaching the League One play-off final.

However, during the first half of this season, McGeady struggled to really replicate the sort of consistent form he showed for the Black Cats during the previous campaign, although the 33-year-old did still manage four goals and two assists in 15 league appearances, but ultimately the decision was made in January to allow him to join Charlton on loan for the rest of the campaign.

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McGeady was an unused substitute during Charlton’s vital 2-1 win against Barnsley at the Valley at the start of the month, before the winger was left out of the squad for the visit to Stoke City the following weekend, as Lee Bowyer’s side slumped to a 3-1 defeat.

The experienced winger, though, was finally able to make his debut for the club from the bench during their 1-0 win at promotion chasing Nottingham Forest, with McGeady brought on for the final half an hour of the game, as Charlton looked to hold onto their 1-0 lead.

The 33-year-old impressed enough with his performance off the bench against Nottingham Forest to earn his first start for the club on Saturday against Blackburn Rovers, but the winger was unable to really help Charlton create many clear cut chances against Rovers, as they fell to a 2-0 defeat at the Valley.

McGeady, though, did show flashes of the potential he has to make a difference for Charlton going forwards during the rest of the campaign during his 69 minutes on the field, and Bowyer will be hoping that given more regular minutes and time to get used to his teammates he can start to flourish for the Championship club.

The winger will be hoping he can continue to start regularly for Charlton during the rest of the campaign, before he returns to Sunderland in the summer and sorts his potential long-term future out beyond the end of the season.