Charlton Athletic boss Nathan Jones has outlined why Blues pair Freddie Ladapo, Panutche Camara and other loanees haven’t featured in recent weeks.
Striker Ladapo, 31, joined the Addicks on loan in January, while midfielder Camara, 27, has spent the season at the Valley.
However, Ladapo hasn’t featured since the start of this month and Camara since February, while fellow loanees Lewis Fiorini, Tyreeq Bakinson, who previously had a spell with the Blues, and Louie Watson have also been omitted.
Following yesterday’s 1-1 home draw with Shrewsbury, Jones, who took charge in February, was asked whether this was due to them not being in his long-term plans.
"It’s a bit of a coincidence and a bit of that,” he told the South London Press. "We’ve had loan players in here – I don’t like taking loans because if we believe in the work we do, I don’t want to develop other players for them.
"We want to develop our own players. We have got good enough young players here and players here that we can develop our own assets – that’s what I like doing.
"Very rarely if one comes available – for example at Luton we took [Leicester midfielder] Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall because he was a Premier League player but playing in the Championship, because we felt we could have him for a year.
"But unless someone is head and shoulders above us, I won’t take a loan unless the will give us a real, real zest – a real quality.
"When I picked the bench I wanted to be as positive as I possibly could. We went with as many frontmen and athletes as we could.”
Camara, who has made six starts and seven sub appearances during his loan spell at Charlton, is out of contract with the Blues at the end of the season and despite the club having an option for a further season, looks certain to move on permanently having made only one start and three sub appearances for Town, scoring once.
Ladapo, who has made eight starts and six sub appearances, scoring once, has another year remaining on his Blues contract but seems likely to depart on a permanent basis in the close season. The frontman has scored 25 goals in 33 starts and 42 sub appearances since joining the club in the summer of 2022 after leaving Rotherham.
Meanwhile, Blues trio Finley Barbrook, Nick Hayes and Ryan Carr will be involved in the Vanarama National League play-offs with their loan clubs.
Keeper Hayes, who is with Solihull Moors, who finished fifth in the National League, go straight to the National League play-off semi-final as sixth-placed Gateshead have been forced to drop out after failing to meet the EFL's entry criteria.
The Moors will face Gatehead next month, however, when the clubs meet at Wembley in the FA Trophy final.
Academy Player of the Year Barbrook and Chelmsford finished second in National League South and will host Braintree Town or Bath City next weekend.
Midfielder Carr’s Aveley ended the season seventh in National League South and are away at Maidstone United in the play-off quarter-finals on Wednesday.