Sichenje injury explained after missing Charlton clash

Charlton Athletic coach Nathan Jones has explained his decision to drop Kenya international defender Collins Sichenje from his squad for the EFL Championship fixture against Birmingham City on Saturday.

The Addicks hosted Birmingham at the Valley and won the fixture 1-0 in the second half after Charlie Kelman scored in the 74th minute.

However, during the fixture, Kenya defender Sichenje was missing from the matchday squad despite his recent involvement for the team. Discussing why Sichenje missed out, Jones said it was a precaution measure to leave the player out.

Sichenje was victim of circumstance

“They [Burke and Berry] picked up muscular injuries. We’re trying to manage it,” Jones told the media on Saturday as per London World.

“We have an excellent environment. [Collins] Sichenje is the unfortunate one. Burke has had some problems this year and we have got to get to the bottom of that. Berry hadn’t played much and then picked up something.

“Sichenje was a victim of circumstance. He played 90 minutes [v Southampton]. We put him on for the West Brom game, Lloyd [Jones] went down after 20 odd minutes.

“We had to play him, put him back out. Burke went down after 11 minutes [v Wrexham], so we had to play him. Then he picked up something from there,” he added on the circumstances leading to Sichenje’s injury.”

Sichenje debuted against Southampton

Sichenje made his debut for Charlton in the 1-1 draw against Southampton, later featured against West Bromwich Albion, before facing Wrexham.

Born in Butere, Kenya, Sichenje started his career with Green Commandos before moving to Kenyan Premier League side AFC Leopards in September 2019.

Following a brief spell in Greece with PAOK B, the centre-back returned to AFC Leopards before joining Swedish top-flight side AIK in 2022.

After spending the 2023-24 campaign on loan with Finnish outfit KuPS Kuopio, he joined FK Vojvodina on an initial six-month loan, with the move made permanent in September 2024 following an impressive start to life in Serbia.

Sichenje has represented Kenya eight times to date, having made his debut in a 1-0 win over South Sudan in March 2021.