Harry spoils the party

Nothing is ever simple is it? Linvoy Primus was all set to provide us with some much needed central defensive cover and now Harry has decided he doesn't want to let the chap leave for the rest of the season (more). I must admit I haven't seen that much of Primus (although there was a good article about him in the programme on Saturday, coincidentally or not) but he can't be bad if Portsmouth are refusing to let him go for the season despite having more than adequate cover in the centre of defence (Campbell, Distin, Pamarot, Kaboul … not to mention Hermann).

I guess the problem with our limited budget is that we're relying on the good will of a lot of clubs and managers when trying to tie up these kind of season long loan deals. As Pardew has admitted, Roy Hodgson did him 'a favour' in agreeing to loan out Hameur Boazza for the season. Unfortunately however, there aren't many decent and valued players that clubs will allow to go out on loan for the duration of a very long season.

So what now? I would suggest that given that there are only six days left until the transfer deadline we might consider taking Primus until December by way of a compromise, although it would be better to know that we had a player who would be with us until May. That said, it's not clear whether the interest in Sam Sodje has completed died away so that could be another option. In reality we probably need two further defensive options and there continues to be speculation that Martin Cranie might be one of those so we'll have to wait and see what Pardew's thinking is.

In the other direction, speculation around the future of Zheng Zhi continues with reports still linking him with a move to West Brom before midnight on Monday (more). It's highly likely that he's going to go and I think it's something most Charlton fans have accepted now. If he does it's not clear if any of the money will be made available to Pardew, although he did state in his post match interview on Saturday that the money he spent on Nicky Bailey would be 'the only money' he'd be spending. Whatever happens, hopefully by Tuesday morning we will have a tight and solid squad which will take us through until the end of the season … or January at least.