Timothy Ouma Excluded from West Ham Trip as Charlton Prepares

Charlton Athletic will travel to the London Stadium without Timothy Ouma, with Nathan Jones making it clear the Kenyan midfielder is still some way off Championship readiness.

The 22-year-old, on loan from Slavia Prague, has been labelled “a work in progress” by his manager, who is refusing to rush him into the intensity of second-tier football after a heavily disrupted pre-season.

Delayed start, delayed debut

Ouma’s summer never really got going. Visa complications held up his return from Kenya, costing him crucial weeks of training and leaving him playing catch-up while the rest of the squad built their base.

“He has hardly trained and had visa issues early on,” Jones explained. That delay meant Charlton could not get him in the building when they wanted, and the midfielder missed a large chunk of pre-season.

He has at least taken a first step. Ouma featured for 45 minutes in Charlton’s U21s against Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday, and by all accounts looked tidy on the ball, aside from one loose pass that sparked a counter-attack. Enough to show his quality. Not enough, in Jones’s eyes, to throw him straight into the fire.

“Ouma was fine the other day in the U21s,” the head coach said, before drawing a sharp line between that level and what awaits in the Championship. “The intensity of a Championship fixture and an U21s fixture are vastly different. We are building him up. It is a work in progress.”

So, just as he did for the season opener against Derby County, Ouma will again be watching from the stands this weekend, his full Charlton debut still on hold.

Sichenje steps up as Ouma waits

While Ouma waits, another Kenyan is edging his way into Jones’s plans.

Collins Sichenje, who got the final five minutes of Charlton’s 2-1 win last weekend, is expected to be part of the travelling squad to face West Ham. His late cameo underlined that Jones is prepared to drip-feed opportunities to those on the fringes, as long as they are physically ready for the demands he sets.

Ouma will have to earn that same trust through training-ground graft and more U21 minutes before he is unleashed in the league.

Jones relishes Premier League-style examination

The setting for Charlton’s next test could hardly be bigger. A trip across the capital to face West Ham at the London Stadium, and Jones is under no illusions about the scale of the challenge.

“It’s a wonderful game to test ourselves against a Premier League club, really. I know they came down, but everything about them is Premier League,” he said.

He reeled off the advantages Charlton will be up against: “The stadium, the crowd, the finances... they have managed to keep the majority of their players and add, so arguably they are as strong as they were last year.”

For Jones, that is exactly the point. He wants his side operating in this kind of environment, measuring themselves against clubs with Premier League resources and expectations.

“It’s a tough fixture, it’s great for the fans, it’s a short journey,” he said. “We wanted to test ourselves; this is why we want to be in at least the Championship. Games like this... are what whet the appetite.”

For now, Ouma’s appetite will have to be satisfied from the sidelines. The real question is how quickly he can turn this “work in progress” tag into a place in Jones’s matchday plans, with tests like West Ham setting the standard he will be expected to reach.