Sheffield Wednesday-linked striker refuses to see out season with current club ahead of 'life-changing move'

A raft of players from up and down the league, including eight Sheffield Wednesday players, will see their current deals expire at the end of June, giving players a difficult decision when it comes to penning any short-term extension to their deals.

And Charlton Athletic boss Lee Bowyer has admitted that his main goalscorer Lyle Taylor is one of three players to refuse to play the rest of the season, which the EFL last night said would start on June 20.

Taylor, who was linked with Wednesday in January when it become clear his goal-laden Charlton stay would not be extended beyond the end of 2019/20, recently described the way the Valley club was being run as ‘a circus’.

The 30-year-old hit 25 goals as the Addicks were promoted out of League One last season and has belted 11 in an injury-torn campaign this time out.

Chris Solly and David Davis are the other Charlton players to have opted against a return to action.

Bowyer told TalkSPORT: “Unfortunately for us three of those players have said that they are not going to play. Lyle’s one of them and that’s tough for us, that’s tough for me as the manager, Lyle’s a big player for us, a bit like [Troy] Deeney at Watford, it’s a similar situation.

“When he plays, we win games and Lyle has said he’s not going to play because of risk of injury.”

Both Taylor and Bowyer have expressed their frustration with how negotiations for potential new deal with the club were handled, with new chairman Matt Southall offering lower terms than a deal Taylor had rejected from previous owner Roland Duchatelet weeks earlier.

“You could not even begin to imagine the circus that this football club has become,” Taylor said on YouTube vodcast The Conv3rsation last month.

“The fans are the only ones that lose. It's a disgrace that this is happening.”

On the situation facing him at Charlton – who sit in the bottom three two points from safety with nine games to play – Addicks boss Bowyer said: “Everyone’s got their own decisions to make, I can’t force them.

“What disappoints me the most, and I’ve spoken to Lyle about it, he’s in such and difficult position, I speak to him on the phone and he wants to play, but he’s so worried about getting injured that he’s saying, ‘I won’t be the same player for you’.

“And it’s just difficult because he’s so big for us.”

Bowyer added: “He’s going to get a life-changing move.

"I was saying this a few months ago when this first happened, when we were talking about the contract problem, I thought that this could be a problem because I know how well Lyle’s done for us - if it wasn’t for Lyle we wouldn’t even be in this division.

"He was outstanding last season, he had a great start this season, he’s chosen now not to come back and play to the end.”

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