Charlton Athletic Online

Have you noticed that it's all gone very quiet at the Charlton end over the last couple of days? Could this be a sign of Alan Curbishley (left) being involved in transfer activity, and if so, who does it involve?

The players likely to be moved out are easiest to deal with first -

Jason Euell: Almost certain to go, probably to Birmingham, but not until after this weekends match. Portsmouth could make a late bid to snatch him, though with three Spurs players signing plus one from Auxerre (and a £10 million plus outlay) earlier this week, this is less likely.

Franny Jeffers: Out of contract in the summer, and unlikely to get an offer to renew it. On a large wage so the club will want shot of him at the earliest opportunity. Millwall have expressed an interest, but I'm not sure they can afford his current wages. Jeffers will want his contract paid up in full before committing to another one elsewhere, so some sort of negotiation and/or compromise is likely, or Franny will be stuck in the bar until the end of June waiting for his current deal to run out.

Dean Kiely: I guess Deano is pretty unhappy about the current situation, but unless another club comes in with an offer, Curbs will not want him to go anywhere. Curbs says he needs three top-class keepers, but with Elliott and Randolph chomping at the bit for games, plus our young Hungarian also out on loan, surely we have enough goalkeeping back-up to let Deano go if he can make a few bucks for himself?

Kevin Lisbie: All we need is an offer I guess, but one doesn't seem to be forthcoming. Of course, if we wanted a player, he would almost certainly be offered in part-exchange; Dean Ashton (or Robert Green) are the obvious links here, as Lis spent time at Carrow Road on loan.

Jonatan Johansson: Another linked with Norwich; JJ is out of contract at the end of the season, and another unlikely to get a decent renewal offer, even though he is a fave of our esteemed manager. It may be time for our Finnish rep to find a new club if he can.

Shaun Bartlett: While Shaun is in the team, it's unlikely that he will go, so speculation linking him with Sheffield United may be mis-judged. Also out of contract in the summer, I doubt Curbs will extend or offer a new one bearing in mind the South Africans ankle injuries.

Danny Murphy: The rumours persist, with the Guardian saying he was in talks with Newcastle all day Tuesday on Tyneside! Curbs has twice denied this, although he does have a stated interest in Bowyer. If Freddie Shepherd could swap the two, he would be a very happy and lucky man. I cannot see any way Charlton would agree to that, unless a cash adjustment was also made - the £2.5m mentioned seems about fair to me! Dan has been great for Charlton's profile, but he does seem to disappear for long parts of the season; please come back the Danny who played the first ten games of this season, and lets sell the player we've had in his shirt since then - that would be a good deal!

And who is coming in -

Well, this is all speculation...

Dean Ashton: Almost certain to leave Norwich, but with a £7 million price tag, he is very expensive, and Norwich would do well to get that sort of money from anyone. Who can pay it? Pompey probably not; Brummies definitely not; West Ham - maybe? We can't, but we can pay a large amount plus Lisbie/JJ. A definite possibility...

Phil Jagielka: Will he leave, won't he? As The Blades are on course for promotion, I think they may just hang on to their most prized player. He will definitely jump ship if Sheffield United don't get promoted this season, or when they are obviously going back down again...

Bernardo Corradi: I'm not sure what happened to Valencia's Italian target man? We were strongly linked but then the trail went dead... A possibility to revive the deal?

Lee Bowyer: Bow needs to move back to London, but the only options are former clubs Charlton and West Ham. The Hammers probably don't neeed him, so that leaves us. A good marketing tool for Mr Shepherd to dangle in front of us as he wants Murphy but a deal could be done without our midfield meastro going in the opposite direction.

J Lloyd Samuel: Also revived in the papers this week - His mum told me that he didn't know anything about the speculation back in October, and that he wanted to get to the summer and review his options then. Still out of the Villa team, and with just 18 months left on his contract, he would almost certainly be sold if an offer were made. Villa have good cover at left back, Charlton do not - an ageing Chris Powell and a central Hermann sharing the job, plus a young Youga in the wings. A maybe...but more likely in the summer.

Steve Sidwell: With Reading almost guaranteed promotion, this is unlikely. He would fit in superbly though if the chance to sign him was available...

There are probably a few other names that we could mention, including many linked with moves to the Premiership from overseas. Wouldn't it be nice to get an english speaking, goalscoring centre-forward from a Russian team or similar, and have him bang in 15 goals in the back half of the season! We might even win the odd game bearing in mind our defence!!!

I guess we will get some idea once Curbs does his press call later this afternoon, but it is intriguingly quiet at present...