NEWS: “Certain things were done and said...” Charlton striker who rejected Sunderland speaks up

Early on in the transfer window one of Sunderland’s top transfer targets was Lyle Taylor - the striker who allowed his contract with AFC Wimbledon to expire so that he could move on after a three-year stay with the Dons.

He spoke to a number of different clubs, and even had Championship offers on the table, but instead he joined up with Lee Bowyer at Charlton Athletic - the club that are most local to his home town of Greenwich.

Sunderland were thought to be very close to securing Taylor’s signature, but after much deliberation he opted against hauling his family north in order to play for Jack Ross in the north east.

And, with the season’s opener with Charlton looming around the corner, Taylor has spoken to the local press down there about what might happen on the day - and the reasons why he didn’t choose to join Sunderland in the end.

Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images

Taylor, in conversation with ‘News Shopper’, said:

I’m not focusing on the reception, I’m focusing on scoring goals.

If they boo me, they boo me. At the end of the day, I’m not playing against 40,000 fans, I’m playing against a couple of centre-halves and a goalie.

They can do what they want. I’m still going to run around like a blue arsed fly trying to put the ball in the back of the net. That’s my job.

It’s one of those things, it’s not like I’ve been at the club and left on bad terms, it’s just a case of it wasn’t right.

I met the manager, I went up and saw the club, the club is amazing, the facilities are amazing, the manager is brilliant. It wasn’t the right time for me, it’s that simple.

Certain things happened. I’m not at liberty to go into the finer details, but certain things were done and said and at the end of the day, that told me enough.

Other things were done at Charlton and other things were said and that told me enough about the club and the manager. That’s that. I’m here now.

Quite what Taylor is alluding to in those comments isn’t clear, though it would certainly suggest that something he was told during negotiations didn’t fill him with confidence.

Charlton have high hopes for Taylor after he managed to score 18 goals last season in League One, and with their ownership situation unclear the Addicks have only added one other player to their ranks so far this summer - former Bolton Wanderers midfielder Darren Pratley.