Everything still feels like it’s happening at a very slow pace behind the scenes at Huddersfield Town. By this stage, I would have hoped that the majority of Town’s business would be concluded and Corberán would be given time to get his ideas over to the whole squad in advance of the season starting. But as it stands we’ve only one deal in done and only rumours of more to follow.
Here’s a roundup of some of the business that has happened and what I think about them all.
Danny Ward’s arrival – solid but uninspiring business
I’m neither under or overwhelmed by this signing. It’s not a stunning piece of business or an awful one. It’s the exact kind of signing we need. While it won’t set pulses racing, its not likely to blow up in our faces either.
The fact he’s arrived on a free is obviously good news but free transfers aren’t really free when you consider all the fees and wages involved. It’s likely that Ward will be given a decent contract but that seems fair for an established and proven Championship level player.
I suspect our willingness to go to three years and proximity to his family will have tipped the scales in our favour over the other suitors. I don’t see any problem with these as motivations for joining Town but it’s clear that he’s not here for the “vision” or the “project” – he wants paying well, for a decent amount of time without having to slog up and down motorways to see his family – fair play to him.
We’ll only know just how good this signing is once the season begins and we get a good look at him but it seems like sensible, if not inspirational business.
Before he left, Danny Cowley was vocal in the media about the need for experienced pros to come in to Town’s team so we can stabilise at this level. Danny Ward is exactly that kind of signing. So much so it makes me wonder if the initial idea to sign Ward came from the Cowleys. It would explain why it’s the first deal over the line if groundwork was being done weeks ago.
The brave new world promised when Corberán was appointed suggested we’d be exploiting foreign markets to snap up unheard of bargains (despite lacking the scouting network or partnerships abroad that help with this). This signing is obviously not in that mould but maybe that’s not a bad thing. Our squad is thin and filling all the gaps with cheapo deal from abroad could be risky if not disastrous.
Reece Brown goes back to Peterborough on loan – who got the best of the deal?
I found this deal slightly strange. The announcement was slipped out shortly after Danny Ward was announced, almost like the club didn’t want it to get too much attention.
I’m not particularly attached to Reece Brown as he’s barely played for us but I was hoping he might get a chance under the new regime. Danny Cowley thought he wasn’t up to the physical demands of the Championship which I found a bit odd, given he’d done well in League Two for Forest Green and was sought after by a variety of League One clubs. Maybe the step up is bigger than I think.
The thing I found most strange about this deal is that we haven’t pushed to get a permanent deal rather than a loan. It could be that’s there’s an option or even an obligation to buy at the end of the loan but that’s not been confirmed publically.
He’s 24 years old though, so I can’t see why we’d keep hold of him. If he isn’t good enough at this age I can’t see another year on loan would transform him into a player capable of getting into our team.
Carlos Corberán said that this deal made sense because there is a lot of competition for place in midfield and he won’t get much game time. Which players is he talking about? Bacuna, Hogg and O’Brien are the only other senior central midfielders I can think of. Matty Daly may also be part of the plan too but we’re planning on playing three central midfielders so look a bit thin in this area.
It may be that Corberán has had a look in the last week and sees a player that isn’t good enough and is happy to move him and a loan is the best we can do, particularly given the new salary cap in League One. It just feels like we’ve not done particularly well out of the deal.
Matt Daly signs extended contract – showing faith in youth
While it’s not headline grabbing news, it was nice to see Daly rewarded with an extended contract yesterday. He’s one of the more promising looking youngsters on the books and it’s smart to tie him down for the long term.
We all know that contracts are fairly meaningless in football these days and players move on when they want but it does give Town more power if clubs come sniffing around him. A long contract means buying clubs have to pay a fair price and we get a return in the investment we’ve put into the player. Hopefully that won’t be the case with Daly and we’ll see him develop and grow alongside the club for a number of years.
He was unlucky not to play more games last season and I think it’s inevitable that he gets more game time this coming season. It’s possible that he could be another player loaned out but as I mentioned above, we currently need bodies in midfield so I’m hoping he stays and gets a chance.
Akinola goes to Arsenal after being released by Huddersfield Town
This isn’t how our academy system is supposed to work. We’re supposed to snaffle up the great players that big clubs ditch from their academy because they have too many talented players on their books. But it looks like Arsenal know something we don’t about this youngster.
Although it may not be quite what it looks like. On the surface it looks like we’ve binned off a player that Arsenal think could do a job for them at the top end of the Premier League. However, I’ve heard that we actually offered Akinola a contract but he declined, leaving us no option but to release him. It may be he declined our offer because Arsenal had expressed an interest already or at least he could smell a better offer elsewhere.
Trying to look at this as optimistically as possible, perhaps we were willing to let him move on because we’ve got such good other prospects in that position (Scott High for example) and couldn’t see him getting ahead of his competition.
Sohbi transfer saga rumbles on
The transfer story that seems to be set to last all summer is continuing to move on. This week the club spoke openly about the offers they’ve received for the Egyptian winger. It sounds like Sohbi is being quite picky about the club he wants to go to and his preferred destination hasn’t matched the £5m+ offers we’ve received from other clubs.
It seems likely a deal will be struck eventually and we can move on from this saga. Hopefully some of the transfer fee and freed up wages will go on bringing in a replacement. Maybe some skinny Spanish starlet that gets knocked off the ball regularly but can produce the odd moment of genius. Or, if Phil is still feeling nostalgic, why not get Pilkington back in and give him another go (I saw a rumour about this today and, if I’m honest, would be pretty chuffed to see Pilks back at Town).