Lee Bowyer has admitted that Lyle Taylor has rejected the offer of a contract extension at Charlton Athletic, as reported by London News Online.

Less than 48 hours after the 29-year-old took to Twitter claiming an offer hadn’t been made, Bowyer was quoted as saying: “Lyle has been offered a contract and he declined it. It’s his choice if he wants to sign it or not.

“We’ve offered him a good contract. Roland [Duchatelet] offered him what we think is a good contract.”

Following this admission, there seems to be every possibility that the Montserrat international could end up leaving, whether that is in January or the summer.

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With that in mind, it is vital that the Addicks manager is able to find a way of winning games without Taylor at his disposal.

Charlton got off to a flying start in the Championship this campaign, tasting victory in four of their opening six games, drawing the other two.

This came during a period in which Taylor was prolific, scoring five goals and assisting one more.

While there have been various other injuries for Charlton to contend with, it is no coincidence that the Addicks’ form dropped considerably as soon as he was out of action, winning just two of the next 13 games.

Even with Taylor slowly returning to the fold, playing 75 minutes across three substitute appearances, Bowyer’s side has managed just one draw.

The striker was also an integral player last season, making 35 goal contributions in League One and the play-offs.

There is a very realistic chance that he will have left The Valley by the start of next season if he refuses to sign a new contract and the club receives some tempting offers, so a solution needs to be found regarding how to play without him.

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This could come from playing with one leading striker rather than two and focusing on becoming a solid unit, or there could be an attempt made to find somebody who can play a similar role to the one he has fulfilled – though that will arguably be a difficult task without spending large amounts.

Whatever the solution is, Bowyer simply must find it if Charlton are to stay and thrive in the Championship without their talismanic striker.

In other news, a Charlton attacker has offered a reminder of how useful they can be.