MANAGER Alan Curbishley raised fresh doubts over Danny Murphy’s future at Charlton with pointed criticism of the England international midfielder’s performance in the latest defeat against Everton at Goodison Park.

Curbishley had rubbished a national newspaper report that the club are ready to trade the midfielder for Newcastle pair Lee Bowyer and Andy Faye in the January transfer window.

Speaking after the Addicks’ 2-0 London derby win against West Ham on New Year’s Eve, he said: "There is nothing in the story. There’s lots of speculation going on at the moment but I haven’t spoken to the Newcastle manager Graeme Souness since we signed Darren Ambrose, which was in August.

"I spoke to Danny and explained that he was in my plans for the Everton game. He was quite astonished, the way the story read, and was put off by it."

Murphy started the match at Goodison Park in place of Radostin Kishishev but yet again looked a pale shadow of the player whose early season form took him to the brink of an England recall. Curbishley replaced him with Kishishev after 67 minutes.

Curbishley admitted afterwards: "I was expecting a lot more from Danny. He didn’t play very well and he will be the first to admit that. I brought him straight back in but I think there must be something wrong with him because he wasn’t as energetic as he normally is."

Rumours have persisted that Bowyer wants to rejoin Charlton after he bought a house in Hildenborough near Tonbridge.

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