Harry carries on training

Youngsters thrived in the Charlton set-up last season as no fewer than five academy graduates stepped into the first-team fray. And while most of the focus was on the likes of Jonjo Shelvey and Scott Wagstaff at the end of the campaign, one talented midfielder who blazed a trail nearer the start was looking on longingly from the stands.

Harry Arter plays for the reserves against Southampton at the start of last season

Arter was the first of a quintet - that also included Grant Basey and Rob Elliot - to be summoned by manager Alan Pardew in 2007/08, and would surely have built on his one substitute appearance but for an injury-plagued campaign.

The 18-year-old, who debuted in the Carling Cup at Luton Town in September, began the week still wearing a protective boot on his right leg after rupturing his Achilles earlier this year.

But he has set his sights on first-team football when he returns at the start of the new campaign.

"The Luton match capped one of the best weeks of my life in the sense of achievement,” said Harry, who is the brother-in-law of former Addick Scott Parker.

"I passed my driving test and made my appearance and things were going well. I guess things like that can't last forever and it's been pretty much downhill since then.”

Troubled by a sore right leg after that extra-time defeat at Kenilworth Road, the initial diagnosis was tendonitis.

But with the FA Youth Cup looming Arter, who skippered the reserves at the start of the season, ploughed on.

"My Achilles had been giving me gip for a while but I ended up playing against Millwall in a reserve game shortly before the FA Youth Cup opener,” he continued.

"I thought it would be OK the next morning but it wasn't. So I got it checked out and Wiggy [physio Steve Allen] said I had to rest for a month.”

Injections, more rest, numerous scans and some Swedish squatting exercises over the following two months could still not get to the root of the problem until Arter was carried off the Sparrows Lane training pitch in agony after suffering a nasty rupture during an innocent bout of head tennis.

"I was gutted and it was a horrible time for me,” added Harry. "I think now the problem was maybe niggling away and a tear didn't show up in the scans.”

Frustratingly Arter was primed to follow in the footsteps of fellow rookies Josh Wright and Aswad Thomas and head out for a first taste of loan football only for the injury to curtail his progress.

"To play at Luton was one of my best and proudest achievements in football,” continued the midfielder.

"Realistically, I looked at it and I knew I wouldn't be straight in the team - or even the squad - after that, so I wanted to get out on loan.

"The manager said at the start of the season that he would send me out when I was strong enough. The plan was to go out just after Christmas but then the injuries happened, which was unfortunate.”

Although pre-season might come too soon for Arter - he is hoping to shed the boot within the next fortnight - he aims to be back in full training in August and has been another regular at Sparrows Lane as he battles back to fitness.

Harry said: "Hopefully it will be a fresh start for me, and that's the only positive thing I can look at.

"I'm in the gym every day doing strengthening exercises and will be looking to come back that little bit stronger. Arter is targeting a return to fitness by the start of next season

"I'm not going to be knocking on the manager's door when I get back either. I assume there will be some new or more experienced players coming in, so my long-term ambition will be to get in the team maybe towards the end of the season.

"At the start of the season I need to prove myself again to people. A lot of people have probably forgotten about me and when I'm fit perhaps I will go out on loan.”

While Arter has suffered a catalogue of misfortune, some of his contemporaries have stepped up to the plate. There is the obvious acknowledgment of peer success, but a burning personal desire remains.

"Of course you are glad to see the young boys coming through and it gives me the confidence next year that I might get my chance,” Harry said.

"But I don't think anyone is expecting me to be sitting there over the moon. I'm pleased for them, but it's so frustrating when I see other players get a chance when I think that could be me.

"It's been really, really frustrating. It's not as if I've been going out pulling a hamstring, it's been a recurrence of the same thing and one thing after another.

"But hopefully that's it now and nothing more will come up. I'm just thinking about getting myself fit.

"I'm not the kind of person that needs me to give me a gee up either; I've got enough in me to want to do it myself.”

And after a long arduous summer, 2008/09 will be pivotal for the West Malling-based youngster, who is out of contract next summer.

He added: "It's a big season for me next year, especially after everything that's happened.

"I need to stay injury free and I'm confident in my own ability that if I do that I can achieve everything I set out to do at the start of the season.”