Milenic Ali’s loan spell at Pompey at the end of last season has paid off, with the winger now heading back to the Championship with Charlton.

Millenic Alli is heading back to the Championship.

Pompey rivals Charlton Athletic have announced they have signed the winger from Luton Town in a deal believed to be around £1.5m.

The former Blues loanee has signed a four-year deal with the south-London side and is manager Nathan Jones’ fifth signing of the transfer window.

The move comes on the back of the Republic of Ireland international’s impactful stint at Fratton Park over the second half of last season.

When at PO4, the 26-year-old played a key role in helping the Blues retain their Championship status for another year, chipping in with a goal and two assists during his 21 appearances.

Despite making a largely good impression on the Fratton faithful, sporting director Rich Hughes ruled out making Alli’s Pompey’s stay permanent.

He told The News on July 10: ‘Milli isn’t a player we are pursuing at the minute.

‘We've actually had a couple of calls from other teams about him and have been giving positive references - but it’s not one we are actively looking to pursue.

‘He helped us last year, but obviously we’ve got Murph (Josh Murphy) coming back, we’ve got Keshi (Anderson) returning to fitness, two really established Championship players as left wingers, which we see as Milli’s natural position.

‘So it’s not one we will be actively chasing at the moment.’

Those words could come back to haunt Hughes. Josh Murphy is yet to feature for Pompey in pre-season as they carefully manage his return following a 2025-26 season impacted by various injuries.

Meanwhile, Anderson is currently out for three months after damaging his quad in training.

That forced head coach John Mousinho to use centre-back Ibane Bowat at left-wing for the closing stages of the Blues’ pre-season defeat at the hands of Wycombe on Saturday.

Not that that’s of any concern for Alli, who has moved on from his spell at Pompey and is looking forward to a new career path at Charlton.

The winger told their club website: ‘I’m happy to be here and can’t wait to get started, have a good time and show what I can do.

‘The club’s goals are the exact same as mine, so we’re really trying to push this season and do the best we can. I can’t wait to play in front of the fans at The Valley and get them cheering and on their feet.

‘You can expect pace, power, directness and goals - skills too!’

Jones, who has been credited with an interest in another former Pompey loanee, Abu Kamara, said Alli would be a good addition to his squad.

He said: ‘We’re delighted to get Milli over the line. We want to evolve and to get better year in and year out - we’ve identified certain elements that we’ve needed, in terms of that player that can be one-v-one.

‘He’s shown he can be a real potent threat at Championship level. We felt he was going to be a really good addition and we’ve worked hard to get that done. He provides options and competition for the players we’ve got and we think in that forward area we’ve got different one-v-one threats with TC (Tyreece Campbell), Karlan (Grant) and Rob Apter and we feel we’ve just added in that department.’

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