Sam Lavelle has hailed the stature of the club after completing his move to Charlton.
The 24-year-old penned a three-year deal with the Addicks on transfer deadline day to become the club’s 10th acquisition of the summer, arriving from fellow League One outfit Morecambe, who he captained since October 2019.
“I’m over the moon really, when it came up a few days ago I was excited to come,” explained the central defender. “The stature of the club is massive, the fanbase is massive, everything about it appealed to me. Moving down south is something I’ve looked at for a few years so I’m happy to do that… just really happy to be honest!
“It always seems to be last minute on deadline day, I don’t know why that is. The last 24 hours have been a bit hectic but I got down here in time, beat the traffic and things like that so all good to be here.”
Lavelle is well-aligned with manager Nigel Adkins as he seeks successive promotions, having guided the Shrimps to Sky Bet League Two play-off glory last term.
“The gaffer phoned me last night and I had a good chat with him,” revealed the 24-year-old. “He told me his plans, he told me what he thinks my strengths are and asked me what I think I need to work on. I agreed with everything that he said and agreed with his plans and ambitions for the club. It’s a Championship club minimum, so to try and help the club gain promotion is something that I’m looking forward to doing.”
“It’s a day I’ll never forget really,” recalls Lavelle. “We defied the odds that season; we were the favourites for relegation and to gain promotion at the end of it was some experience and I think an experience that will only help me in the future and hopefully this year or next year with Charlton as well.”
The centre-back afforded Charlton supporters an insight into his key attributes as a player, while looking ahead to the Cheltenham Town fixture at The Valley on Saturday, September 11th.
“I think 110 percent every game,” he explained. “I’m a good talker, I think, a leader. I’ve always been captains of the teams growing up so I like to organise, I like to win my headers as a centre half and I also like to play on the ball. A bit of a mix but you’ll get 100 percent from me.”
“It’s a good time to sign,” added Lavelle. “It gives me a chance to look at the surrounding areas and the training ground, meet the new players and meet the staff. Everyone so far has been good as gold. I can build for next Saturday’s game with a full week of training next week.”
Click here to purchase your ticket for the Addicks’ encounter against Cheltenham in SE7.