Wanderers have swooped to sign wingman Corey Blackett-Taylor to boost their attacking threat for the remainder of the League One campaign.
Blackett-Taylor joins the Whites on loan for the rest of the season from Championship side Derby County.
The 28-year-old will add further forward options to Steven Schumacher’s squad and helps maintain competition for places after on-loan winger Amario Cozier-Duberry was ruled out for a number of weeks with a knee injury.
Wanderers had already targeted Taylor-Blackett and are delighted to have secured the services of a proven performer who came off the bench for Derby in their Championship fixture against West Bromwich Albion last weekend and is eager to continue his career with the Whites.
“I've had a tough 18 months with injuries and stuff and I just want to play consistently and just play football and enjoy football and I think coming here is going to give me the chance to do that,” he said.
“Once I heard that the interest was there, and the size of this club, I just felt that this was the right step for me to take. For me, it's one of the clubs that you look at and it's definitely a big club, a bigger club in this league, and definitely a club that's got good history and you see them almost being a Championship club.
“You see the stadium and you see the fans and the turnout that they have and how passionate they are, so you get that feeling, and you always know, there's one or two clubs that probably are bigger than where they are now and it's only going to be a matter of time until they're back where they should be.”
Having helped Derby win promotion to the Championship in 2023/24 – as Wanderers finished in the play-offs – Blackett-Taylor has made 10 appearances for the Rams this season, including five since Christmas. The predominantly left-sided player also arrives with vast experience at Wanderers’ current level, making 81 of his 97 appearances for Charlton Athletic in League One.
The Birmingham-born former Aston Villa youngster spent three seasons at The Valley after signing from Tranmere Rovers in the summer of 2021 – scoring 20 times – and was a regular and dangerous opponent of the Whites prior to a move to Derby, initially on loan, in January, 2024.
And after tasting life at the top end of the division another tilt at promotion with Wanderers helped sway his decision to move to the Toughsheet Community Stadium.
“I think Charlton is similar to the previous clubs I've mentioned, where they've got a big history of playing in the Premier League and in the Championship, so when you sign and play for these kind of clubs there's always that expectation that you've got to be high each season,” Taylor-Blackett added.
"You've got to be in the play-offs, you've got to be fighting for promotion, you've got to be winning most games. Luckily for me, the clubs that I have played for in League One have been them kind of clubs and I feel it's no different here.
“That's what's also helped my decision to join because I knew that I'd be coming in at the back end of the season and playing for something and there's definitely something there to be achieved.
“I'm coming here to play games, which is what I want, but then I'm playing games knowing that I can help the team to achieve what they want to achieve and I want to be a part of that.”
Blackett-Taylor, who will wear squad number 35, becomes Wanderers’ fourth signing of the January transfer window following the arrivals of goalkeepers Jack Bonham and David Harrington and young defender Lewis Temple.
Watch the first full interview with our latest new signing on Wanderers TV