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Arsenal youngster Krystian Bielik a loan target for Charlton as Lee Bowyer looks to add numbers

Loan ranger | Bielik is set for his third loan spell away from Charlton: Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Loan ranger | Bielik is set for his third loan spell away from Charlton: Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Arsenal youngster Krystian Bielik is a target for League One side Charlton as they look to exploit the loan market before the end of the month.

Bielik, 20, joined the Gunners from Polish side Legia Warsaw in January 2015 but has struggled to carve out a first-team role for himself in the past three-and-a-half years.

Instead he has spent time on loan at Birmingham City and Walsall, though the latter spell was disrupted by a shoulder injury. Bielik is unlikely to get immediate opportunities with Unai Emery's squad and notably was allowed to travel on the youth team's pre-season tour rather than join the brightest young guns in Singapore.

Charlton will now offer Bielik, who can also play in defensive midfield, another chance to prove himself and will welcome another addition to a squad that saw only two permanent arrivals before the transfer window shut earlier this month.

​Bielik could be used to fill the gap left by youth product Ezri Konsa, sold to Brentford for £3million amid the austerity imposed by owner Roland Duchatelet with the sale of the club not imminent.

Charlton has historically proved to be a fertile proving ground for Arsenal youngsters, with Francis Coquelin and Stephy Mavididi both impressing at The Valley.

Interim manager Lee Bowyer will want more than just Bielik before the loan window for EFL clubs closes at the end of the month.

“I need a centre-half, another central midfielder and winger/striker, that type of player,” he said after failing to name a full substitutes’ bench in either of the opening two games of the season.