Lee Bowyer thinks new signing Jonny Williams will bring “that bit of class” to Charlton as they continue their push for promotion to the Championship this season.
Williams, who signed permanently on a six-month deal from Crystal Palace, made his debut for the Addicks in a 1-1 draw with promotion-chasing Sunderland.
The 25-year-old midfielder came on with much fanfare at the Valley as supporters were already singing his name.
He becomes Charlton’s first signing of the January transfer window and Bowyer hopes he’ll help the team to achieve its ambitions of a second-tier return.
“I think you see what Jonny is going to bring to us,” Bowyer said in his post-match conference. “That class, that awareness, the final ball.
“That bit of class, like the one when he just slipped it in for Karlan [Grant]. Karlan shoots, 'keeper makes a great save.”
“That's what Jonny is going to bring to us. The awareness, the when to release it, when not to release it, and the weight of pass.
“It's tough to come onto the pitch when the game was flying like it was, it was end-to-end and it was like 100 miles an hour. To catch up with speed, it's difficult.”
READ: Charlton can still finish top two says Bowyer
Bowyer was also happy with Williams’ cameo against a team he played for at the backend of last season before Sunderland were relegated to League One.
The former Palace youth academy graduate travelled with the Eagles to the Molineux for their 2-0 win over Wolves before officially signing with the Addicks days later.
“I thought Jonny thought I was playing when made his first pass and he passed it to me on the side!” Bowyer added.
“To be fair to him he thought [Chris] Solly was coming on the overlap, so he just left it in the hole and obviously Solly wasn't coming and it didn't look too good on his first pass but he got a lot, lot better after that.
“I was over the moon from what I saw in that short space of time because you've got to remember he only trained with us yesterday and we didn't really do much.
“He doesn't really know the players, doesn't really know how we want play - apart from we play the diamond and he's played it before - but yeah I saw over the moon to get a player of his quality.
“But we have to bring in players like that, because if you're going to bring in players they have to be better than what we've got or at least be on par with what we've got.
“We're trying to build a good, strong squad so then if you do rotate the one you're bringing in is as good as the one you've taken out. That's what I think we're doing at the moment, once we get our injured players back.”
READ: Player ratings from Charlton's 1-1 draw with Sunderland
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