Huddersfield Town have signed central midfielder and part-time Phil Collins impersonator, Herbie Kane on a free transfer following his contract expiring at Barnsley. Despite bearing a striking resemblance to the singer/drummer from Genesis (someone on Down At The Mac pointed it out and I can’t unsee it now), this looks like a great signing for Town. So with no legitimate concerns about this bit of business it leaves unfortunate bloggers like me little material to write about oth(er than personal remarks about the player’s physical appearance.
We’ve been crying out for some creativity in the middle of the park for years and it seems like this signing could bring it. We also have a head coach that can get the best out of him too, as Duff worked with Kane at Barnsley two seasons ago and helped bring him on. The fact he’s arrived as a free agent too makes this deal seemingly have no down sides.
OK, I feel like I’ve been far too positive in this introduction, so if you want some negativity to balance things out, he does look a bit sweaty in his introductory photoshoot. And despite the fact he has a fairly slim build in terms of his body shape, he has the faint hint of a double chin. But that’s it, other than looking a bit like a sweaty Phil Collins, this is superb news. Just what we needed after the disappointment of losing out one Alfie May to Birmingham.
Who is Herbie Kane?
Kane started as a youth player at Bristol City but was hoovered up by Liverpool’s academy system at 15. He played his first professional football on loan at Doncaster Rovers in 2018. The season after he stayed at Liverpool but was limited to two League Cup outings. Then in January 2020 he spent a year on loan at Hull where he played in the Championship.
He left Liverpool in October 2021 (the transfer window timings were odd because of Covid) for Barnsley in a deal worth £1.25m, who were in the Championship at the time. The next summer he went to Oxford for a season-long loan in League One. He was back at Barnsley for the 2022/23 where he was managed by Michael Duff and they narrowly lost out to Darren Moore’s Sheffield Wednesday in the League One playoff final. And he spent this season just gone at Barnsley too, once again guiding them to playoff defeat.
So Kane has lots of experience at the top end of League One and the bottom end of the Championship. The early stages of his career most likely hinted at greater things too, with him playing in Liverpool’s academy, getting an England U17 call up and getting minutes for Liverpool’s first team in the League Cup. The fact this youthful potential hasn’t been fully realised can be seen as a plus or a minus depending on your perspective – either he’s not reached the heights he should because his attitude hasn’t matched his innate ability or, looking at it from a glass half-full perspective, he’s got a high ceiling and may not yet have shown the best football he can play.
What do Barnsley fans think about losing Kane?
I had a nosey on the Barnsley fans’ forum to see what they thought about Kane leaving and it was the usual mixed bag of opinions whenever people share their thoughts online. If you asked an AI to boil it down though, he’s talented, a bit lazy, makes them better when he plays but wasn’t popular because of an interview he gave last season. The lazy comments weren’t universal though and the people that disagreed tended to point out that he isn’t quick, so lets the ball do the work for him but he does keep moving most of the game (he’s also very rarely subbed in games and plays most weeks – so it’s unfit).
I was a bit surprised that there wasn’t more sadness about Kane’s departure but it seems that he’s been on his way out of the door for a while, with him running his contract down in order to get a better deal elsewhere. As we’ve had a similar situation occur with Brahima Diarra, I can see why that would mean fans would be a bit irked with him by the time he eventually left. It also sounds like his performances dropped off by the end of his time at the club.
As I mentioned above, there were lots of remarks about an interview that he gave which put a lot of Barnsley fans’ backs up. In it he gave monosyllabic answers and had a bad attitude. The fans didn’t link to the specific interview but a bit of Googling turned up the likely culprit which I’ve put below if you’re curious. It’s a pretty painful one to watch and he does make it hard work for the interviewer with his insight-free answers but there may be a reason for him being a bit awkward. His interview he’s just done with Town’s media team after signing was obviously much chirpier but it’s clear even from our softball questions that he’s not a comfortable media performer, which is fine because we’ve signed him for his performances on the pitch not in front of a camera.
If Kane was being foisted upon Duff by a recruitment team that was picking players from spreadsheets and YouTube clips then I’d be concerned about these reports on Kane’s attitude from Barnsley fans. But Duff knows Kane better than he knows any of the current Town squad because he worked with him for a year at Barnsley (Duff also knows more about Kane’s character than Barnsley fans do too). I don’t think he’d bring in a player that he didn’t think he could get a tune out of. Though there is a funny anecdote in the forum about Duff shouting abuse at Kane from the touchline when he didn’t think he was moving enough in one game.
How does Kane’s arrival affect Town’s current squad?
Herbie Kane is the type of creative midfielder that Town don’t currently have, so I don’t think there’s an obvious player that he’s in competition with – maybe Ben Wiles would be the closest. But because Wiles has struggled for form there’s a gaping hole in the squad that Kane will hopefully fill.
In terms of other midfield options at the club, there’s currently Hogg, Austerfield, Kasumu, Scott High, Ben Wiles and Tom Iorpenda but he’s ahead of all of them in the pecking order and would be straight into my best Town XI without question. I don’t think there’s an issue of us being overstocked in this area and if anything we need more quality even after this signing. Town obviously feel the same about creative midfield players, as they have apparently had a bid accepted for Bristol Rovers’ midfielder, Antony Evans – though I’m not getting excited about it until he’s officially announced.
From what I’ve read about Kane, it sounds like he’s best in a role where he’s pulling the strings and playing balls into the forward players. So in a midfield three, he would need a defensive-minded player to be snapping around making tackles and a ball-carrying, attack-minded player to actually make runs up and down the pitch. So I’m seeing him as a not-quite-as-good Aaron Mooy replacement that I’ve been relentlessly banging on about since 2019. Which is probably too much to expect but at least he’s a player that can pick out a pass and will try to get us on the front foot, which we’ve been missing for years.
TerrierSpirit.com opinion
I’m excited about this signing more because of the kind of player it is rather than the actual player we’ve signed. It fills a gaping hole in the squad and it means we might actually be able to play nicer football and be a better attacking team. Rather than just talking about it in interviews and not delivering it.
Kane started his career at Liverpool and most likely didn’t expect to be playing in the third tier in his mid-twenties but maybe there is untapped potential in him which Michael Duff may be able to access. Even if there isn’t, we know that he’s performed consistently well at League One level and he’s enjoyed a good season with Duff not so long ago, so it feels like a fairly safe bet that he’ll do a good job for us.
Having seen his highlights, I’m looking forward to those chipped in balls behind defenses that he threads through for forwards to chase that seem to be his signature move. If we can get the likes of Pat Jones and Rhys Healey trained to run on to those passes then I can see them becoming a regular source of goals this season. If nothing else, it’ll be nice to see a player in a Town shirt that can consistently pass the ball ten yards to a teammate without kicking the ball into touch. The bar is currently that low.
Watch Herbie Kane in action
Wait… sorry… that’s Phil Collins. Easy mistake to make. Here’s Herbie Kane in action:
As you’ll see from the video, there are some screamers that he’s scored in the clips but the assists are almost as good when he floats in those chipped balls which are so inviting for forward to attack. We’ve complained for years that our strikers rarely get decent service, but if he can put balls like that into the box then our forwards can have no grumbles.
Looks like a good signing to me.
Agreed! 👍
Glad he’s gone ,lazy and hasn’t got a clue about the game .selve centered and not a team player.He thinks he’s a good player he’s deluded. Good luck ,your need it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Herbie Kane, Chris. I heard a few Barnsley fans say similar, but I’m hoping a new start at a different club might help him.
Wow, yet another mid-field player. How many have we got now? Would like to see more firepower up front, but obviously the delivery to our front players has to be better than it has in the past. He may be the answer, as they say time will tell, so good luck to him.
While we may look OK in terms of numbers, the midfield is lacking in quality, so Kane’s arrival was sorely needed. I think at least one more is required too. Austerfield and High are probably not quite at the required level and Iorpenda looks very promising but hasn’t played much first team football so I wouldn’t want to rely on him to play many games.
Having worked with Healey and Radaluvic, I think Duff won’t be that disappointed to lose out on May. He worked with him at Cheltenham and will know exactly what he’s capable of. He probably thinks that the above mentioned pair can give him more than enough at this level. Should we mange to sign Evans along with Kane, I’m sure that we’ll create more from that central midfield area with firepower as well. I believe now that it’s more about who we can keep as opposed to further signings. Initially, I was gutted to lose out on May, who was averaging around 25 goals over the last three seasons. If they’d really wanted him an offer closer to seven figures would have been more appropriate.
It sounds like it was May’s personal terms that priced us out of the deal rather than the transfer fee. A Birmingham fan Twitter account posted that they are paying him £16k a week basic with a potential extra £4k a week in bonuses. Plus half a million as a relocation package. For a player who is soon to be 31 and has never played above League One on a three year deal, I’m quite pleased we didn’t match those terms. It’s only a rumour but it adds up as I can imagine Birmingham would need to throw money at him to make him sign as his wife and kids have moved to Yorkshire, he likes working with Duff and he was already at Town for his medical when they swooped to hijack the deal. If he scores the goals that sends them up then it’ll look like good value but anything less and they’ve spent an awful lot on him.
I agree that our existing strikers could be as good as May too. Both Healey and Radulovic have scored consistently at a higher level (if you think the Finnish top flight is higher than the English third tier – it’s debatable) and Ward might be decent at this level too.
Given we were willing to spend fairly significantly on May I suspect we’ve not finished with transfers and another striker may come in. After that I think you’re right and it’ll mostly be backfilling any players we get good offers on. Nicholls, Helik, Thomas and Spencer are probably the most at risk of leaving but I hope we keep at least one or two of them.
Well at last, what looks like a decent midfield shaping up. If as you say they can pass to the forwards then even they may start looking decent. Everyone raved about Rudoni, he did put himself about, but there was no end product. If Wiles can rediscover good form , then things may be looking up.
And the rumours of Antony Evans signing from Bristol Rovers are growing and growing since I published this article, so that would be another creative midfielder.
A good preseason, a new manager and dropping down a level could make Wiles look like a new player too.
If there’s any truth at all surrounding the signing of Alfie May, we couldn’t have possibly subscribed to terms like that.
I’m confident that both Healey and Radaluvic will score at this level as the former has done it before at MK, and the latter did score goals in the Europa Conference League !
If we can keep Danny Ward fit, I’m sure that he would make a massive all round contribution at this level.
👍