Huddersfield Town’s transfer business: an intelligent gamble

Huddersfield Town’s summer transfer dealings came thick and fast in early July, with 9 players either bought or borrowed in the space a few weeks. It’s 10 transfers if you include Kachunga, but the intention to make his loan permanent was decided long before July so I don’t think he counts

A flurry of early transfer activity made us one of the big spenders in the Premier League and has some rival fans and media pundits suggesting we were panic buying.

Less charitable pundits likened us to contestants on Dale Winton’s Supermarket Sweep, with David Wagner cramming every available player into his trolley as he raced around the aisles. Time will tell whether this was a fair assessment but I feel certain it’s wrong.

As does sports writer Raj Bains:

https://twitter.com/BainsXIII/status/882628413504319489

We moved quickly in the transfer market but there is a logic to the way we’ve gone about our business and in nearly all cases it feels like we’ve managed to get relatively good deals in place.

Here are some thoughts on why Huddersfield Town’s transfers seem like good business for a team that are going to be seen as underdogs in the Premier League.

Avoiding Premier League experience

“You need to bring in established Premier League players” is something I’ve heard a lot since Town were promoted. I’m pleased that David Wagner has ignored this advice. Just like he didn’t buy established Championship players last season.

Premier League players tend to be overpriced and the value of their experience is overstated. It’s true that the Premier League is the best league in the world but the amount of money sloshing around it has made the transfer market a little bit crazy.

By shopping in the Championship or abroad it’s possible to get players for fees that are more sensible. It also means that if/when our new signings have a good season with us they’ll benefit from that “experienced Premier League player” premium, so their value will jump up.
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Potential return on investment

Where Town have splashed the cash this season they’ve spent it on players that could be worth more than double their fees by next summer. Aaron Mooy, Tom Ince and Steve Mounié all cost big money for a team the size of “little Huddersfield” but could be sold for significantly more if they have half-decent seasons.

While I hope that Town manage to keep their best players, it seems unlikely we’ll lose much money if we do have to sell on our bigger earners in the future.

If Mooy plays at the same level as last season he’ll be worth more than £20m next year, Tom Ince has scored more than ten goals from the wing in each the last three seasons, if he does that in the Premier League he’ll shoot up in value. Steve Mounié might not click in the English football but he looks like he’s got all the attributes to be a great Premier League striker and there’s (almost) no limit to how much his value could grow.
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Players with something to prove

Another theme of Huddersfield Town’s summer signings is bringing in players that have something to prove.

• Depoitre was rated as a top talent until last year at Porto didn’t pan out
• Ince has had two goes at the Premier League already and not made an impact
• Mooy was in Bolton’s youth setup but had to go back to Australia to build his career
• Zanka returned to Copenhagen after an unsuccessful spell at PSV

I’m not trying to say that these aren’t potentially great choices, but I think we’re willing to take a gamble on players. Overcoming a failure from earlier in their career could be a source of inspiration for some of these people. I know Tom Ince wants to prove his critics wrong this year, so those harsh words from his previous spells in the top flight will add fire to his belly.

David Wagner proved last season that he’s capable of getting the best out of players. So if anyone can improve the players we’ve signed it’s Wagner.
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Getting players in before pre-season

The speed of our transfer business was thought to be too quick by some, but it made sense to bring new players in as early as possible.

Last season Wagner brought in 13 new players, mostly in early July and that extra time helped him to forge the team spirit within the camp.

Too much has been made of the survival trip to Sweden because it fits the narrative of a trendy new coach with wacky ideas. However, getting the group together early did help to foster an incredible team spirit in the camp.

David Moss’ influence?

One of Town’s first pieces of business after the playoff final was to sign up David Moss as Head of Football Operations.

While I don’t know the internal goings on with transfers, I can imagine that Celtic would be shopping at the same level as a newly promoted Premier League side. So he’d have a good idea of the kind of players that would be available in Town’s price bracket.

At Celtic, Moss oversaw the recruitment of players like Dembele, Van Dijk, Wanyama, and Gary Hooper. If one or two of Town’s signings can kick on like those players then we’ll have done very good business.
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A gamble worth making

All of Town’s new acquisitions are somewhat of a gamble because they’ve not produced in the Premier League but there are good reasons to see the gamble as being carefully calculated and stacked in Town’s favour.

The uncertainty about some of these players could be more positive than negative, as we’re giving promising players a chance to shine on the world stage. They’ve also got a chance, at least in the early stages, to make the most of being underestimated by the established Premier League teams.

By giving a player a year under the spotlight of the Premier League it’s almost certain they’ll be more valuable unless they really let themselves down.

I think it would have been a bigger gamble to have spent our new-found wealth on middle-of-the-road Premier League players at inflated transfer fees.

I’m also pleased that we’ve not tried to “do a Burnley” and trouser the windfall and cling to survival with the Championship squad. Not that I think it’s as simple as that at Burnley, but that’s the cliché uninformed pundits like to fall back on.

We’ve brought in exciting new players that have the potential to turn Huddersfield into a decent Premier League club. They also have the potential to turn out to be complete crap. It’s going to be exciting to see exactly what we’ve got for our money this season.

What do you think of Town’s transfer activity this summer? Put your thoughts in the comments below.