There is speculation in the papers today that a host of Championship clubs are looking to buy Michael Hefele from town. After his key role in helping Town to promotion last year, he’s become a target for aspirational Championship teams that want to follow Huddersfield to the Premier League.
It’s understandable that other clubs would see the contribution Hefele made last season and want to bring him to their clubs. However, it’s essential that Huddersfield keep hold of Hefele, even if it means giving him a new contract on higher wages. Here’s why he’s such an important piece of our team.
Hefele’s getting better and better
Hefele had a slower start to his Town career than some of last season’s other signings. He had to be patient and work hard to get a chance in his preferred position of centre-back. Schindler and Hudson formed a solid pairing in the early stages of the season and it was right that Hefele had to wait to get his chance and be satisfied with his role as a sub-striker.
His enthusiasm and passion shone through on these brief cameos (including the goal he scored with his bum at Villa away) to make him a fans’ favourite before he’d started a game in his preferred position.
As the season progressed he got better and better though. A few shaky performances in the early stages were soon forgotten about when he became part of the best defensive pairing I’ve seen in my time of supporting Town.
He suits our style
Centre backs are very important to Wagner’s style of play, as they have to be comfortable on the ball and mobile enough to defend high up the pitch and drop deep to receive the ball at goal kicks. Hefele’s distribution is excellent and he’s confident with the ball at his feet, even when under pressure. This gave Smith licence to bomb forward last year and it was incredible how often Smith latched onto balls that Hefele floated into the corners last season.
So he’s a good centre back, but in our system, he becomes a very good centre-back, because we play to his strengths and give him the chance to get forward. I’m not sure a move away would be good for him and he’d be difficult to replace.
He’s a big game player
I think that Michael Hefele’s best three games for Town were all in the playoffs. The big occasion brought the best out in him and he was a rock throughout three very tight games. He managed to snuff out Forrestieri twice in a week against Wednesday and soaked up a lot of pressure in the playoff final (if only he’d have scored his free header in the opening minutes).
This ability to rise to big occasions suggests we’ll see a better player in the Premier League, where we’ll be coming up against the best teams in Europe on a regular basis. It would be a great shame not to give him a chance to shine on the big stage.
He’s a leader and a personality
The main reason I don’t want him to go is that I love him. In a purely platonic, fandom kind of way. But I feel a sense of delight watching the way he plays football and how he conducts himself when he’s off the pitch. He’s humble, funny, passionate and clearly a key person to have around the squad.
His leadership qualities are obvious when you see him play and the passion he brings on the pitch is infectious for both players and fans. There were a lot of factors that combined to make last season special for Huddersfield Town but I think that having characters like Hefele in the team were a big part of it. He’s the kind of player we want around in the forthcoming season when there are sure to be challenging moments.