Nathan Jones urged to make big Gassan Ahadme call at Charlton Athletic | OneFootball

FLW's Addicks fan pundit wants to see Gassan Ahadme given more game-time in the final eight matches of this season

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Charlton Athletic boss Nathan Jones has been told to give attacker Gassan Ahadme more chances to prove himself as the Addicks search for more creativity and quality in the final third amid their League One promotion charge.

Charlton started the season in inconsistent form, but they have turned a corner in recent months and are now in with a slim chance of sealing automatic promotion to the Championship from the third-tier.

They sit fourth in the League One table, but are eight points from second-placed Wrexham with eight games to go, so may have to settle for a play-off place come the end of the regular season.

Nathan Jones' side have lost just two of their last 14 league outings, and their great run has been spearheaded by 33-year-old frontman Matty Godden. The Addicks' reliance on his form has been very clear, and Jones will need to use the full extent of his squad over the next five weeks to make sure of a top six finish.

Charlton fan pundit makes Gassan Ahadme demand amid 'creativity' desire

Charlton made Gassan Ahadme their marquee summer signing ahead of this season, but he has failed to live up to expectations at The Valley so far, despite the team's overall strong performances and their recent push for promotion.

The Spanish-born striker has bounced around numerous EFL clubs since he became a first-team player at Norwich City in 2020, but it was his exploits on loan at Cambridge United from East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town that caught the attention of the Addicks last summer.

He netted 13 goals in 33 appearances in all competitions for the U's, and Charlton shelled out a reported £1 million for his services in July to sign him from the Tractor Boys, but he has had limited chances to prove himself under boss Jones so far, with only 18 league outings and three of his four goals up to now coming against lower-league sides in the FA Cup.

Ahadme made his first appearance in nearly three months last time out as a late substitute against Peterborough United, following injury issues and a bout of illness. FLW's Charlton fan pundit, Emma Harknett, wants to see him given more chances in the season's run-in, mainly to offer more creativity and a different option to main centre-forward Godden.

“I think our biggest weakness is definitely a lack of creativity. We seem to be scraping through games,” Emma told FLW.

“There’s a few times this season where we have been quite lucky with a few games, and we’re not really creating much.

“I’d really like to see Gassan Ahadme brought back into the fold. We obviously seem to be relying very heavily on Matty Godden at the moment, and Miles Leaburn has picked up an injury. Our young striker Daniel Kanu is also injured, so it literally leaves us with Godden, Ahadme and Chuks Aneke.

“Obviously Aneke is coming more towards the end of his career, and he has very limited minutes left in him now. Gas (Ahadme) hasn’t hit the ground running with us this season, and he has had a few injury issues.

“He made a brief appearance in the last game, coming on as a substitute quite late, but I think now we are playing a system that would suit him more.

“I think he has got a bit of a redemption arc in him. I’d really like to see him come back in and prove a few people wrong.

“I think he has got something to prove to this fanbase, and I think we need to be using our wide players more - Tyreece Campbell and Thierry Small.

“We need to be getting balls into the box, and Ahadme has proved, especially in cup games, that he can get on the end of those crosses.

“I’d say his heading is probably his biggest strength. I’d definitely like to see him come back into the fold so we don’t have to rely so heavily on Matty Godden.”

Nathan Jones has backed Ahadme to make an impact this season

Charlton's recent outstanding run of form came to a crushing end last time out with a 3-0 loss to struggling Peterborough United, and so, despite his lack of goal contributions so far this term, Addicks fans and boss Jones alike would have been pleased to see Ahadme return to the fold at the Weston Homes Stadium after so long away.

The 24-year-old has no doubt largely disappointed so far when he has played, but there is clearly a goalscorer there following his exploits at Cambridge and his decent showings in the FA Cup this term, and the more depth that Charlton can have to help relieve the pressure on Godden, the better, with the 33-year-old having started 10 of their last 12 league games.

Ahadme's opportunities have no doubt been hindered by the form of Godden, who has hit 15 goals in 38 appearances so far, but now that he is back in the matchday squad, it would not be a surprise to see him given more game-time with a potential play-off campaign on the horizon.

Nathan Jones certainly still believes in the ex-Ipswich man, and he backed him to make an impact ahead of his return to the Addicks squad earlier this month.

“We have got really good competition at the minute. Gassan has been unfortunate with injuries this year, that is the big thing that has curtailed him," Jones told the South London Press.

“There is a lot of stuff that revolves around it. The players we have now we really, really want. We have gone through a window where we could’ve moved people on and we had a lot of interest in our players.

"The players we kept we believe we can now take forward and achieve something this season. Gassan is a big, big part of that. He is a totally different striker to what we have got."

Ahadme is surely set to get his chance over the next eight games, and scoring a few vital goals in Charlton's promotion push would be the ideal way for him to prove himself to supporters at The Valley. He definitely knows where the net is, but now just needs to regain that self-belief in front of goal to try and make amends for his poor debut campaign.