Steve Mounié left Huddersfield Town today, transferring to Brest in France for an undisclosed fee.
The much-loved striker left a heart-warming farewell message on his Instagram account, saying he had been welling up when looking back at pictures and videos of his highlights at Huddersfield Town.
Steve Mounié’s message to Town fans
Not everyone is on Instagram, so here’s his message in full.
Im Getting emotional while Im looking at all these pictures and videos.
I would like to thank every people who works at the club. You gave me a warm welcome from day 1 until the end so thank you very much.
🚨 Special mention for the FANS I can’t thank you enough for all this years, you have been nothing but amazing towards me.
I seriously got tears knowing that I’m leaving you and that I won’t hear my song at the John Smith stadium again…😢
This is a heartbreak but that’s the life of a footballer and I hope you will keep following me through my next adventures.
Keep supporting the team as you do, There is some young lads coming up, help them to shine ✨
Now I’m joining your side as a huddersfield town fan 🥳
Take care and be sure that I will always remember you 💙🤍
#htafc #huddersfieldtownforever
Thoughts on Mounié’s departure
I’ll always have positive feelings towards Steve Mounié after his debut at Palace away. He starred in a Town game that felt absolutely magical at the time.
He’s had his ups and downs but I’ve always liked him as a player. During his difficult patches of form he could be frustrating to watch but I don’t think Town ever truly played to his strengths.
He’s incredibly good in the air and with decent deliveries could have scored far more goals in his time at Town. He could also strike the ball well, like when he scored an absolute belter against Blackburn last season.
Mounié’s strengths were obvious but his limitations were too. He’s not mobile enough to get in behind opposition defences often enough and his movement in the area lacked the killer instinct of top poachers. Confidence is also an issue for him, as he had a long spell where he looked completely out of touch. He kept plugging away though and eventually found his scoring ability again, ending last season with a better goals-per-minute-played ratio than Karlan Grant.
It seemed clear that Mounié wasn’t going to fit in with Corberán’s vision for the club and Mounié is still rated in France, so it makes sense for this move to take place. I really hope he does well at his new club and wish him all the best.
I was trying to work out why Mounié leaving bothers me more than Grant. This video sums it up nicely. What a guy! https://t.co/R36dGVJ6oR
— TerrierSpirit.com (@SpiritTerrier) September 9, 2020
What does Mounié’s exit mean for Huddersfield Town?
You could argue that Danny Ward has already replaced Mounié in the central striker position but that won’t cut it for many Town fans. Moving on a high earner and a source of goals means we need another player through the door.
Ward and Campbell can both play as the main striker and Harratt and Phillips in the academy could be given minutes too, so it’s arguable we have enough options. However, Campbell’s ongoing injury problems and the rawness of the lads in the academy suggest to me we need another option in this position.
I would have thought that Town might look at versatile forwards that can play centrally or out wide to provide flexibility within the squad. A young lad at Espanyol has been linked that fits this bill but is currently just a rumour.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CE6lhB4n_Dc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Really pleased to see Mounie go. Never was much good. Supposed to be good in the air but missed more than he scored. He came across as a lazy player who never seemed to be involved. De Poitre was a much better player who gave everything in every match even though always on his own at the front and he never stopped working.
Hi John, thanks for commenting. I know you’re not alone in not loving Mounié, plenty of Town fans feel the same. Personally, I think he tried his best in every game but badly struggled with confidence in the relegation season.
Depoitre had some amazing moments in his time at Town but they nearly all came in the first season. In the second season he looked a stone over weight and like he’d lost interest, to me at least.
It’s funny how we can watch the same games but all come away with slightly different perceptions. It’s also what makes football interesting.
I think your overall assessment is pretty fair and will be a reflection of how most of us supporters feel.
Mounie seemed happy with the club and the fans and i never doubted him for a minute that he would give all for the cause.
I felt sorry for him and Depoitre a lot of the time in the relegation season, an absolute thankless task, to run the line upfront and chase down balls they couldnt hope to reach with their pace. Let alone try and close down defenders by themselves. His service last year was about as good, as the lad has bascially been on a hiding to nothing each season as we simply havent played to his strengths.
I cant believe there were many better players in any division who won aerial battles the way Steve did, he hit a patch in the Prem where he was outstanding, but he wont be remembered for winning those because they came 25 to 30 yards out and amounted to nothing as he’d got no support.
He leaves Town with my best wishes, and some great memories.
On whats left if Grant goes and his heart already has by the looks of it, then as much as i like Ward (freebie) and Campbell (freebie) we are woefully short upfront and cash will have to be spent to stop the supporters turning toxic. Wage bill reduced and cash in the bank, Phil has to show something to us
I think a small section of the fans have been toxic for years but I can see far more could join them if we don’t invest in the squad.
I lost count of the time Mounié would win a header and his perfect flick on would drop harmlessly to a defender because there wasn’t a blue and white shirt within 20 yards of him or the ball. We’ll always be left wondering what he might have been with the right team around him.
You have it exactly right there.what a pity that neither striker had good support.lets hope our strikers get better service in the future.
i still remember mounie saying PUT THE BALL IN THE AIR AND I WILL SCORE. he was the only player of 6.foot plus who jumped io 5 foot 8. nice fellow but flattered to deceive. good luck to him but we need better
Thanks David. I think we all saw the potential in Mounié but unfortunately it never fully clicked for him even though he came across as a nice chap.
I disagree with the comments that he wasn’t good enough, we haven’t got a player who can cross a ball consistently. Mounie needed decent service and to be honest never received it. A lot of the other “Premier League” players downed tools and wanted out after relegation, Steve never did that. He played on till the end and even though he was a substitute under Cowley he scored some really important goals. He’s not a pressing forward, or a speed merchant, but I appreciate he tried to fill that role when asked. Wish him the best of luck and glad he enjoyed playing for town as much as I enjoyed watching him.
Good point about Mounié hanging around after relegation. I think last season helped him to recover a bit from the relegation experience and he noticeably improved as the season went on.
In terms of him getting good service, I think he could score 15-20 goals in the Premier League with a team like Burnley that caters for target men. We never gave him a chance really.
He will be missed by many Town fans who had an understanding of the thankless task both him and Depoitre were given. Yes he had his faults, like many other players, after all none of them are perfect. No he couldn’t close a man down quickly as others do but that didn’t mean he lacked pace. His pace came from going up through the gears, much like a Rolls Royce getting to top speed a hell of a lot slower than a Ferrari. Was he lazy ? Not in my eyes. I remember a player who worked his socks off chasing lost causes along the back line with little help from the midfield, mainly because they were sat so far back hoping not to concede a goal there was little or no chance for a successful press. Steves main fault was his confidence and frustration at the role he was given. Confidence is one of the key attributes of a striker and when this is lost it is not an easy thing to find again. When he was confident he was outstanding as his 8 goals in 14 games showed. More than a 50% strike rate is terrific for any striker considering the vast majority only achieve a 30-35% strike rate. Our ability as a team to be unable to put a decent cross into the box became his big downfall and sadly our loss. We have lost a man who loved our club. He loved our club not just because it gave him a big pay packet but because it was our club who gave him a chance. Our club who believed in him after a poor season in France. Our club who he believed in. Our fans who he loved and believed in. And ultimately it was our club who let him down not the other way round. Good luck to you Steve Mounie in all that you do.
Excellent points here. I particularly agree about Mounié being let down by the club. We spent big money on him and never really gave him the ammunition he needed to succeed.
Well said Peter. You summed the Mounie situation up perfectly. I’ll always remember how he took time to realise the fans (probably not Wagner) would only accept him if he was seen to be running around all over the shop. It took him a while to twig and when at last he did, it was almost heart-breaking to watch him ditch the lessons of a lifetime. And of course, far from helping his game, his efforts only detracted from it.
Nothing to add Peter sums up exactly how I felt
HI STEVE MOUNIE NICE BLOKE BUT NOT A FOOTBALLER MAY BE A MALE MODEL SAID HE WANTED TO BE KNOWN AS THE DROGBER OF THE DALES MORE LIKE THE DONKEY OF THE DALES PLEASE DONT SAY HE DIDNT GET THE SERVICE A 10 MILLION POUND PLAYER SHOULD BE ABLE TO MAKE SOME CHANCES OUT OF NOTHING BRING BACK JORDAN RHODES SOME PLAYERS ARE ONLY GOOD AT 1 CLUB JOHN HOPING PIPI IS HALF AS GOOD AS MALCOLM BROWN AS AN ATTACKING FULLBACK
Hi John, Apologies for the delay in your comment being published, it got caught up in the spam box, maybe because you wrote in all capitals. Anyway, thanks for your comment. You’re right that Steve Mounié probably didn’t live up to the potential he had but he’s not the kind of player to make something out of nothing. Malcolm Brown must have played before I started following Town, as I don’t remember seeing him. I’m not sure who the best right back I’ve see at Town. Tommy Smith in the promotion season most likely but I also remember Steve Jenkins being very solid and putting in some decent crosses.