“Closer”: A winter recruit for Charlton Athletic is getting closer to playing again before their match against Barnsley

Closer’ – Charlton Athletic winter recruit edging towards return ahead of Barnsley clash

Charlton Athletic boss Nathan Jones has said Connor Wickham is getting ‘closer’ to being available.

Charlton Athletic signed the striker at the start of last month on a free transfer.

Wickham, 31, has only made one appearance for the League One side though.

Jones has provided this update on his condition, as per a report by London News Online: “He is closer than what he was the other day. We hope we have all these back for the weekend, so we can have different options.

“It has been a frustrating one because we’ve only seen him for 20 minutes.”

Charlton Athletic selection update

Getting Wickham up to speed would be a boost for Charlton heading into their final few games of the season as they look to head into the summer on a high.

The attacker was brought in to add more competition and depth to their options at the top end of the pitch. However, he hasn’t managed to get much game time yet and it has been a frustrating start to life at The Valley for him.

Jones’ side are back in action this weekend with a home clash against promotion hopefuls Barnsley before an away trip to Wigan Athletic. They drew 0-0 at home to Stevenage last time out and are unbeaten in their last 10 games.

Wickham only penned a short-term deal with the Addicks and is due to become a free agent again at the end of June as things stand.

He is an experienced player in the Football League and has played just under 300 games in his career to date. The ex-England youth international has played for the likes of Ipswich Town, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Preston North End, MK Dons, Forest Green Rovers and Cardiff City in the past.

Wickham has chopped and changed clubs quite a lot over recent years and could do with laying down some roots somewhere.

In the meantime, his focus will be on getting fully fit and showing Charlton what he is all about between now and the end of the season as they look to keep their impressive unbeaten run going under the guidance of Jones.