Portsmouth and Middlesbrough loanees set 'minutes' and 'Eden Hazard' challenges at Charlton Athletic

Charlton Athletic recruited Portsmouth and Middlesbrough stars Tom McIntyre and Alex Gilbert from the Championship at the end of the January window to strengthen the Addicks' squad for the second half of the season.

Ahead of potential debuts this weekend against Stevenage in League One action, both players have been set challenges for their short stays at The Valley. Former Reading man McIntyre had managed just 12 Championship appearances for Pompey this term as the side fights to stay in the second tier and hadn't played in the league for John Mousinho's side since mid December. The defender lost his place to the experienced Marlon Pack, who was used as an emergency central defender to tighten things up at the back.

Speaking this week, the Portsmouth boss insisted that McIntyre still has a future at Fratton Park and challenged the player to earn regular minutes at Charlton Athletic. He told The News: "My big challenge to Tom would be to play as many games as you can at Charlton between now and the end of the year, come back unbelievably fit in pre-season and make sure you’re ready and you are at it, competing for a spot.

"‘That doesn’t mean he no longer has a future at Pompey, not at all, that’s why we wanted to loan him out. We bought Tom this time last year and he didn’t play anywhere near as much as he would have liked, but he was fantastic for 53 minutes against Northampton. We were very excited about bringing him in.

McIntyre told he ‘needs minutes’ at Charlton Athletic

"By Tom’s own admission, I don’t think he has quite hit the heights of what we expected when he first came into the building. There’s a number of reasons behind that, including an eight-month injury lay-off, which hasn’t helped. When you’ve had that amount of time off, you need minutes, you need to play football, you need to get back to the very minimum of the physical peak which we know Tom can get to.

"It’s up to Tom to go and prove himself. Charlton moved on one of their centre-backs in the window and obviously wanted to take somebody who they think can compete in the first-team. ‘We will keep a close eye on him, it’s not like he’s gone to the depth of nowhere. He’s playing League One football and that’s really, really easy for us to watch."

Meanwhile, Gilbert arrives at Charlton Athletic to add creativity going forward. The 23-year-old has played just 70 minutes in the Championship across seven appearances this term, but did find himself on the scoresheet against Hull City on New Year's Day.

Alex Gilbert makes Eden Hazard comparison

Speaking to the South London Press, Gilbert admitted that Boro were hopeful of keeping him at the Riverside Stadium but that he pushed for the Addicks move. He said: “I ended last season well and there was no talk of me going anywhere in the summer. There were a few clubs sniffing around and having a look at me but I was only thinking of being at Boro and fighting for my place.

“I’ve definitely not had as much game time as I’d have wanted. It’s tough for a young player to carve their way in the game. That led on to January. There were a few people at Boro, the manager being one, who still wanted to keep me there – being in the position where they are going for the play-offs – but I was a big pusher for going somewhere I’m going to play football."

Gilbert went on to admit that he felt 'good enough to play at Boro in the Championship' and that he hopes to prove that during his loan stay at The Valley. Set to wear the number 17 shirt for Charlton Athletic, the midfielder said: “In January you are pretty limited for choice, all the good numbers have already been taken by the lads. It was one that was available. Funnily enough, I said I had got number 17 and one of my friends said: ‘Eden Hazard wore that’. I said: ‘If I’m half as good as he was then we’ll be doing alright!’”

In other news, Charlton Athletic defender Lloyd Jones has been nominated for an award after transfer interest from Wycombe Wanderers last month.