Not to be confused with Alex Gilbey who is currently plying his trade at Milton Keynes, Alex Gilbert is a 23 year old attacking midfielder who has joined on loan from Middlesbrough.
He came through the WBA Academy and, as an eighteen year old, was offered a professional contract but chose to join Brentford instead. He didn't make any League appearances in his three years at Brentford although he was often an unused substitute and did play twice in the FA Cup and the EFL Cup.
On transfer deadline day in August 2021 he joined Swindon in League Two on a season-long loan which was subsequently terminated in January 2022 after he had made only 8 appearances for Swindon. He returned to the Brentford B team for the rest of the 21/22 season and captained the team in 22/23. All together he played 79 times for the B team before in July 2023 he departed for Championship football with Middlesbrough on a four year contract. It is understood that, although he was a free agent, Boro paid a compensation fee of "about £1m."
He was a regular on the substitutes bench at Middlesbrough last season but was used only ten times and played only 80 minutes in all before finally making the starting eleven for the last two games of the season and scoring his first senior goal. However, opportunities have continued to be scarce and most of his appearances this season have also been from the bench.
So, despite his five years since leaving the West Brom Academy, he doesn't bring a great deal of senior match-day experience. Nevertheless, CAFC Technical Director Andy Scott says:
"We’ve been chasing Alex for a while now and we’re really pleased he’s joined us. We believe he has the ability to positively impact the team as he has done a number of times for Middlesbrough in the Championship. He has great quality in the final third, gives us something different in those forward positions and we’re looking forward to watching him in action for Charlton."
Nathan Jones said: "We don’t really like taking players on loan, but when an opportunity comes up to add real quality, like this, we have to take it."
Alex doesn't seem to anticipate spending so much time on the bench at Charlton:
"I'm massively looking forward to Saturday," he said. "Charlton's obviously a big club and from what I've heard the stadium's really nice, so I'm looking forward to playing in front of all the fans!"