Opinion: Charlton Athletic should pursue fresh agreement with 34-year-old

Charlton Athletic have a lot of decisions to make in terms of the future of their squad with players’ contracts nearing expiry in the coming months.

Conor Washington and Ben Purrington are possibly the most high profile players edging towards the end of their deals but there are some others that deserve an extension.

One of those is Jason Pearce.

The 34-year-old centre back has been one constant in a very difficult few years at the club, since signing from Wigan Athletic in the summer of 2016.

Pearce is the club captain and plays just as significant of a role on the training ground and in the dressing room as he does on the pitch, and has taken on some coaching responsibilities this season.

The no nonsense defender is approaching 170 appearances for the club and has seen his first team involvement decrease gradually over the years.

However, more often than not, particularly this season, Pearce has delivered when called upon and reiterated his value to the squad once again, coming into the side and keeping a clean sheet against Sunderland this weekend, to end a run of five straight defeats.

At this stage of his career it is only likely that Pearce would be offered a one year deal, however he would most likely have to drop to League Two, or lower, to earn a lengthier contract elsewhere.

With the chance that Chris Gunter, Ryan Inniss and Akin Famewo’s Charlton careers come to an end this summer, extending Pearce’s deal would certainly be a wise move looking at the squad depth chart.

Deji Elerewe and Charlie Barker have made strides into the first team from the youth ranks in recent years and keeping a player like Jason Pearce around would ease that process.

The 34-year-old is clearly eyeing a future role in coaching after