Boreham Wood are delighted to announce the arrival of Josh Umerah on loan from Charlton Athletic.

The 6ft1in forward rose through the Addicks’ Academy and enjoyed a breakthrough campaign with the under 18s in 2014/15. That season, he finished as the league’s top scorer, during Charlton’s Professional Development League Two title winning campaign.

This led to a first-team debut for the youngster, as he replaced Igor Vetokele against Hull City in the Championship.

The 21-year-old has spent time on loan in Scotland with Kilmarnock, as well as in England with Wycombe Wanderers, in League Two – where he was rated very highly by manager Gareth Ainsworth.

Described as a strong and powerful frontman, Umerah’s record at youth level is impeccable and he has also lifted the PDL2 South title on two occasions, with Charlton.

A tall and imposing presence with pace to burn, the forward will add further excitement to the Wood’s frontline.

On joining, Umerah said: “Things happened quite fast and Boreham Wood were the team who wanted me the most. So, it was a no brainer, they have promised me minutes and I am hopefully going to help the team.

“I am the type of striker who likes to hold up the ball and bring other people into play. I also like to receive the ball, turn and run at defenders, and just be a general nightmare.

“The gaffer brought me into the office today and he was talking about the history of the club and he was talking about last season and the success that the club enjoyed. He wants to be successful again and hopefully I can help the club do that.”

On his latest capture, Garrard commented: “I saw Josh on numerous occasions for Charlton’s under 23s last year and he possess great power and great strength.

“He had a successful loan at Wycombe last year and I have done my homework on him. I talked to Gareth at Wycombe and he spoke very highly of the boy.

“I envisage him coming in and making that forward berth his own, because I think that pace and power hurts teams at this level.

“I think that if you’re a big forward, going back to front, defenders at this level eat that up.

“if you have got someone who is powerful, who wants to run channels, wants to hold people off and is dynamic in their movement, then I think that you cause teams problems in the National League.

“Yeah it is a profile that we’re looking for and if you look at Justin and Joshua, they are pretty similar in the way that they are built, the way that they work and how they go about their business in terms of their forward role.

“For me, he will bring an athleticism to us; he has got great pace and great power and an eye for goal.”

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