Lee Bowyer told the SLP that Ben Amos will start the season as Charlton’s first choice keeper.

Bowyer is unhappy that Dillon Phillips will not extend his stay at The Valley beyond next summer.

Amos’ contract also expires at the end of the season. Here is Bowyer’s reasoning:

“We did offer him a good contract in February time and Dillon and his agent said they didn’t want to sign and wanted to see how things panned out.

“They feel Dillon is a Championship goalie. Okay, if that’s the case we got Ben to sign in the summer on the understanding that Dillon will be going – because that’s what his agent was saying.

“That’s what we expect to happen but at the moment we’ve got three good goalkeepers in the building.

“Middlesbrough made an offer, but we rejected it.

“I feel I gave Dillon the chance and I think he should sign so that we’re not getting pushed back into a corner again

“It was different with Lyle (Taylor) because I felt he could make the difference and would have kept us in the division last season with his goals. 

“That was why we made the choice not to sell Lyle.

“Obviously we want Dillon to stay but basically it is his agent that is saying no.But agents nowadays, they feel like they have the power and say ‘okay, we’ll go on a free’.

“Yeah, we are going to sell if he doesn’t sign. If he doesn’t sign then there is a big chance he won’t play.

“Ben will start the season. I told Dillon that and Dillon told his agent. If you don’t want to sign you’re not going to be starting the season.”

The Addicks kick-off their 2020/21‎ campaign with an EFL Trophy group match against AFC Wimbledon at Loftus Road this evening. The game will kick-off at 5.30pm.

The EFL’s ruling on the criteria for being recognised as a first team player will affect Bowyer’s team selection.

The EFL class any player who has made a first team appearance – no matter how minimal – as part of the required 23 man squad.

At present, Bowyer has 23 qualified players and cannot bring another player in unless he first releases somebody.

Normally he would field a youthful team for this match, but any debutants – Jay Mingi for example – would then be added to the club’s first team pool, further restricting Bowyer’s ability to recruit.

The sooner the ownership issue is resolved the better. Hopefully, there will be some positive news on that front during the course of the day.

The manager will have to play a more experienced team than he would like, though he will be missing Luton bound, Tom Lockyer, as well as Conor Washington and Jonny Williams who are away on international duty.

Avoiding injury will be foremost in Bowyer’s mind, but a win would be a nice morale booster.