If you thought that the signing of Eoghan O'Connell came from left field, you were no doubt astonished at the arrival of Mandela Egbo on Tuesday.
Charlton's second signing of the transfer window has played a total of seven games in British football - all of them during a short-term contract at Swindon last season. The twenty four year old, attacking right back was born in Brent, lived in Hackney and was briefly at Crystal Palace before joining Borussia Monchengladbach as a seventeen year old. He played 86 games for their reserve team and just one for the first team before jetting off to America to join New York Red Bulls in 2020. He played eleven times before being loaned to The Red Bulls 2 for whom he played 21 times and scored 4 goals.
He also represented England at under 16, 17 and 18 level and gained 18 caps in all.
Ben Garner was aware of Egbo from his time at Crystal Palace and in March this year he signed him to help Swindon's push for the League Two play-offs. He provided three assists in six games and scored a penalty in the shoot-out that they ultimately lost to Port Vale.
Garner said: “I’ve known Mandela since he was 11 years old from academy football. He came and played for me at Swindon at the end of last season and did really well. He’s experienced for his age and he’s got the attributes that we want in that position. He’s a fantastic character with a great personality, very driven, a great athlete and a really talented footballer.”
Mandela himself commented: “I love getting forward - whether that’s as a right-back or a right wing-back - but I also love to get my defensive duties done. I love a crunching challenge, I love to get stuck in. I think I bring some quality in the final third. I love to get past my man and get crosses into the box, whether it’s with link-up play or one-v-one attacking. So, hopefully that’s going to be my goal, to just try and get as many assists as possible and chip in with goals. Like you said, attack, attack, attack.”
It sounds like he is going to be a popular Charlton player. In fact you can probably put your shirt on it.......
Here is the full story from the CAFC website: