Millenic Alli was confirmed as Charlton’s fifth signing of the summer on Sunday, arriving from Luton Town in a deal rumoured to be up to £1.5 million.

Alli joined Luton long after Nathan Jones had departed The Hatters but was signed for the club by Phil Chapple. It is the third time in as many seasons that the Irishman has joined a team in the Championship.

26 year old Alli was born in Dublin and played youth football for two Dublin based teams - Esker Celtic and St Francis. At the age of 14 he moved across the Irish Sea to sign for Bury but didn’t make an appearance for the Lancashire club. A move to South Shields was next before a tour of non league sides culminating in 54 appearances for Chorley.

Alli was 24 when Exeter City took a punt on him in January 2024 and he went on to make 35 appearances in League One, scoring 13 goals. Just twelve months after making the step up to league football Luton paid £1.5 million to secure his services in the Championship. Matt Bloomfield often deployed Alli as a left wingback, linking up with Amari’i Bell just behind him. Reports from Luton fans suggest that Alli wasn’t defensively strong enough for that position and his confidence suffered as a result. A glance at Alli’s heatmap for that spell suggests he still attacked a lot but Luton were a team in free fall, it was a lot to expect him to turn around their season while performing in an unfamiliar position. He returned to The Championship when Portsmouth took him on loan last January and they used him heavily. He made 21 appearances, averaging 74 minutes in each of them. Pompey had an injury crisis and their fans seem to think it led them to overuse Alli and his danger decreased as he got more fatigued.

Charlton fans will be familiar with that kind of review as it is how many speak about Tyreece Campbell. In fact there a lot of similarities. Both have the potential to get fans off their seats; both need to improve their end product; both have spent a lot of time at wingback and both have struggled from being overplayed. It’s possible that Nathan Jones plans to use both players to give each other rest. The problem is that Karlan Grant also likes to operate off the left.

So where does Alli fit? Is he to be used on the right? He has played there before and is two footed but the vast majority of his football has been played on the left. If he does play on the right will it be as a winger in a 4231 as we’ve seen in preseason or will it be as a Thierry Small-esque right wing back in a lopsided 352?

The most important thing is that his arrival will allow Campbell some rest and vice versa. Including Rob Apter there are now four wingers on the books and unless Apter leaves it seems unlikely there will be another added.

One thing is for certain, Alli will run hard and not shy away from the ball. If Nathan Jones can improve his end product then the rumoured £1.5 million could look like a bargain.

Welcome to SE7, Millenic!