Diawara makes it eight

With 40 hours of the transfer window left, the Addicks announced that 27-year-old Souleymane Diawara has become Iain Dowie’s 8th signing of the summer. I’ve never even heard of the lad let alone seen him play, but he has experience of playing in Europe, has won domestic trophies in France with Sochaux and is an experienced International. The price is slightly higher than I would have expected to pay for such a player but Dowie claims that he has followed his career for some time and is well aware of what he can do, so the rest of us will just have to trust his judgement. The fee was £3.712m (and twenty six new pence) by the way.

As I’m sure most Addicks are aware by now, one player who will not be present when Diawara joins up with the squad is Costa Rican talent Christian Bolanos, whose appeal for a work permit was turned down by the Home Office yesterday. I’m gutted about this news to be honest. I wasn’t at the friendlies that the kid took part in but I have heard nothing but glowing reports from those that were, and I’m sure that the club will be keeping an eye out for his inclusion in up and coming Costa Rica squads. As soon as Christian’s percentage creeps up over the 75% mark, I’m sure he will be on the first available plane back to London. It was obvious when the original application was turned down that Bolanos hadn’t played enough International matches, and I would love to know on what grounds the club appealed the decision anyway. It does seem a little harsh though to expect the kid to have been playing ¾ of his countries International games at the age of just 20.

So with Bolanos off of the list, and no further movement on the alleged deal for Pouso, Dowie now has approximately 21 hours of the transfer window left in order to find us the midfielder we so desperately need. Even if we find the right man, the question is: Do we have enough money left to sign him? By my reckoning we have spent just over £11m this summer and recouped nothing. Jason Euell looks likely to be off to Boro, but even if that move goes through I can’t imagine it being for anything more than a million. Perhaps it would be wise not to sign a midfielder tomorrow, and save the money for January instead. By then we will have a better idea of where we need to strengthen anyway.