The number of phone calls and messages I received from fans prior to the last week or so was amazing – and they were all asking the same question.

Was I going to sign a professional contract with Charlton?

Well, that question was finally answered last Friday, and I hope everyone was as delighted as I was when I finally signed a two-and-a-half-year deal.

Strictly speaking, of course, I didn’t have to sign anything. I’m in the first year of a two-year scholarship, but obviously the club wanted me to commit myself on a professional basis, and so did I.

I can’t deny there was some interest from clubs in the Premier League – no names… - but Charlton made a convincing case.

They have developed me, brought me on, showed faith in me and given me my chance in the first team, perhaps before a lot of other clubs would have done, and these were obviously all important factors.

Being a professional footballer is all I’ve ever dreamed about since I was a little kid, so it’s unbelievable that I have achieved that now.

There was a lot of paperwork to sort out, but I hope the fact that we got it all out of the way before 9am on Friday, as soon as I turned 17, made my intentions clear.

The last thing I wanted to do was to interfere in any way with our preparations for the following day’s match against Swansea City, where I returned to the starting XI, and thankfully we went on to pick up an important point.

The position I played in at Swansea was the role in which the manager sees me playing at the moment, just in the hole behind a striker.

He sees me mainly in a 4-4-1-1 formation because it allows me to be more attack-minded.

I can play in a 4-4-2 in a central midfield role, and perhaps in the future that will be my main position, but I’m aware I still have to develop. I just need to get in the gym and do some more power exercises!

My contract is the least of the club’s concerns now, though, and everyone is focused on our next run of vitally important games.

We’ve got Watford on Saturday, and then Reading and Wolverhampton Wanderers away next week, and while some might think that the away games will be extremely difficult, recent results have shown that anyone is capable of getting results against any other club in the Championship.

I want to play as big a part as possible in keeping the club up, and that will help to repay the faith the club has shown in me.