CHARLTON are keeping an open mind on trialists Christian Dailly and Wade Small after both impressed in last night’s pre-season win over Ipswich.

The ongoing uncertainty about the proposed takeover in SE7 means the Addicks are restricted in the transfer market at the moment, so manager Phil Parkinson is refusing to be rushed into any immediate decisions despite the new season being only 10 days away.

He said: “I thought Christian did well. He only trained with us yesterday and hadn’t played any pre-season games at all.

“I said to him at half-time I’d maybe give him 60 minutes but he said he’d be fine. He’s got fantastic fitness for someone of his age.

“He’s an experienced player, he played at Glasgow Rangers last year and he’s played a lot of international football.

“When you’ve got that ability to read the game, he can make it look easy and I thought he did that tonight.”

Parkinson added: “If you look at the problems we’ve got, defensively we need three out-and-out centre backs and a utility-type player like Dailly in the squad.

“At the moment, we’ve only got one.

“Any centre-half who is available of course we’re speaking to, but we’ve got to be in a position to get those deals over the finishing line.”

The manager was also impressed by Small’s contribution after he came off the bench for the final 20 minutes in last night’s Valley encounter with the Tractor Boys.

Parkinson said: “Wade did well when he came on and had one or two flashes.

“He’s someone we’ve been looking at over the last couple of weeks.

“We know he can do it, he’s done it at a higher level than this in the past and we’ll continue to look at him.”

The boss admitted he had made an approach to secure the services of Radhi Jaidi, adding: “I’ve spoken to his agent but it has gone no further than that.

“Obviously we’re in a bit of a tricky situation at the moment at the club.

“It hass been a funny old summer, but I’ll be doing my best.”

Parkinson also hailed an encouraging pre-season for his side after the 2-1 home victory over Ipswich Town.

While two Deon Burton penalties and a solid team performance secured a positive result over Championship opposition, improvements in fitness levels and team spirit are a far bigger success to Parky and the team.

He said: “It was a good game and fitness-wise it was a great test as obviously Ipswich is a game against more experienced players.

“In terms of personnel, they became stronger throughout the game and I thought we coped with that well.

“The subs that came on for us played their part in taking the game to Ipswich.

“It was our first and only friendly at The Valley, so it was important we put in a decent display and one or two fresh faces I thought did well.”

He added: “I played in my mind the strongest team at the moment.

“But I think everybody knows the squad needs improving and when the time’s right to do that, we know where the gaps are but I’m pleased with what we’ve got out there.

“We’re confident the lads we’ve got are in good shape at this stage in pre-season and they’ve worked really hard.

“We had a great trip to Ireland, the spirit among the group is surprisingly good, we want to keep that as upbeat as we can and we’ll gradually add the new faces when we’re able to do that.”