Well, most of you will know already.
Karlan Grant played nearly a hundred first team appearances for Charlton after graduating from the club's academy. The 28 year old striker netted 21 times before making the move to Premier League side Huddersfield Town.
Winding back a few years, Thamesmead-born Grant came alive following his loan to Crawley Town in 2018. Before his time in Sussex he wasn’t much of a goal scorer but he found the back of the net nine times in fifteen League Two appearances. That form carried on for The Addicks in the 2018/19 season scoring 14 in 28 before sealing his move to the top tier at the end of the January window. He scored four Premier League goals but wasn't able to stop Huddersfield being relegated. However, he scored 19 the following season in the Championship and he hit double figures for the third time (18) in 2021/22 in his second season at West Bromwich Albion. That move to the West Midlands cost The Baggies £15m and he signed a six year contract which has just expired.
It should be noted that Grant missed 20 matches last season with a troublesome hamstring injury. Coming in late to pre-season will not be helpful on that front. In the games he did play, Grant only scored 4 goals in 27 appearances. He played 80 more minutes than Charlie Kelman who scored seven times in a season that many fans said was underwhelming.
The signing of Grant does suggest that Nathan Jones is intending to play the lopsided 352 system he’s employed over the last couple of seasons. Grant spent a lot of last season playing a similar hybrid striker/winger role to Tyreece Campbell. The Addicks have employed a 4231 system in pre-season so far but that feels like it’s more due to current personnel than a plan to change the system. Campbell would see his minutes decrease but that is no bad thing, he’s looked tired for a while and the chance to learn from an experienced player could be invaluable.
Returning strikers? Well it can't be said that Chuks Aneke was a great success (eight goals over four seasons) but Flanagan and Hales did pretty well albeit never quite recapturing their former glories. However, older fans will point to the second coming of Eddie Firmani. Having left SE7 to join Sampdoria in 1955 he came back from Italy in 1963 and scored 32 goals in 55 games for us over the next two seasons. That would do nicely, Karlan.
Nathan Jones is delighted:
"He did fantastically here before and he had a real desire to come back. I wanted to be the one to bring him home. He’s one of our own, he’s done fantastically for the football club and I’m delighted to add a player of Karlan’s quality to our squad."
Welcome back to SE7, Karlan.