Alex Stavrinou will return to npower League One side Charlton Athletic as Blue Square Premier Club Cambridge United are unable to afford to extend his loan deal.
The former Cyprus youth international’s stay at the Abbey Stadium is set to end after Saturday’s trip to Barrow, but he is unlikely to figure in the squad.
Stavrinou has not been in the match-day sixteen for United’s last two games and manager Martin Ling admits it was because he knew the midfielder would have to return to Athletic, who sacked boss Phil Parkinson on Tuesday, despite being fifth in League One.
Ling admitted he was disappointed not to be able to offer an extension to the 20 year old, who scored on his debut in a 2-2 draw at Fleetwood Town last October and went on to make seven appearances, his final one in last week’s 5-1 defeat at home to Mansfield. He said:
“Alex has only got a few days left on his contract and I haven’t got the money to keep him, but that’s the reason why he hasn’t been playing. Things have become tight and we need to pinch our pennies even more than we have done previously.”
And had Stavrinou stayed Ling admits that his budget would have gone beyond breaking point to the extent that the U’s would have been unable to agree a new week-to-week contract with the Club’s joint top scorer, Wayne Gray.
Ling said: “If we had to choose between Alex and Wayne Gray, I’d have to choose Wayne because of the position he plays and also the influence he has had over the period.”
“The fact I could only offer Wayne a week-to-week contract probably answers its own question. I don’t want to put doom and gloom on it, but that’s the situation here and if people above me don’t want to say it, I will.”
