Charlton Athletic boss Nigel Adkins has claimed to the South London Press that he is willing to remain patient over the fitness of Pape Souare. 

The Senegalese left back recently signed for the Addicks after initially training with the club and was quickly thrust into the limelight yesterday as he came off the bench to make his debut in the eventual home loss to Cheltenham Town.

Having previously not played competitive football for the best part of a year, Souare is still very much building up his match fitness and is sure to take some time to get up to speed with his new teammates.

However this is something that Adkins doesn't appear to be overly worried by, as he clarified his stance on the defender's fitness after the game:

"I've been really impressed in training. You can see the quality he's got even when he's on the pitch there and tried to play the ball with the outside of his foot to break their lines. The more we can get him on the training field, the more we can hopefully start to build that fitness level up.

"The big question will be if all of a sudden you put him in too long and too much and he breaks down with a soft tissue injury and is out for six weeks. We don't want that to happen but that is what happens sometimes when someone has been out for a long period of time. There's a lot of positive signs with Pape and I've been really pleased with the additions of the players."

Souare previously turned out for Crystal Palace and has good experience of playing English football, which will only serve to help him in the long run as he looks to settle into life at the Valley.

Meanwhile the Addicks are back in action next Saturday as they travel to Adams Park to take on Wycombe Wanderers.

The Verdict 

It was certainly interesting to see Charlton take what could be argued as a gamble on a player who hasn't played a lot of football in the past year and the hope will be now that it pays off in the long run.

Souare possesses undoubted quality and will surely be relishing the opportunity to prove himself again and get his career on track.

Charlton is a good environment for a player of his stature to thrive and it will be interesting to see if he can establish himself as a regular starter.

The main plus point for the club is that they now have a great alternative to Ben Purrington at left back, which is something that can only be a good thing.