It’s likely to be another summer of change at Huddersfield Town, as we prepare for a new life in League One and hopefully a more positive season after a pretty dire run of results in 23/24. Before we get to next August there will have to be some work done to build a squad that is up to the challenge of League One, which will be a tricky job, particularly if the club needs to cut its cloth according to the reduced revenues that relegation brings.
With that in mind, I’ve had a go at trying to predict what might happen to Huddersfield Town’s squad over the summer. There are likely to be some high-profile exits, hopefully some of our better players will stick around too and a few fringe players may step out of the shadows to take on more prominent roles at a lower level. The retained list will most likely be out next week, which will confirm if any of these predictions are correct. Then we’ll see over the summer which players get sold.
Here are my predictions about what will happen with Huddersfield Town’s squad over the summer…
Who are Huddersfield Town likely to sell this summer?
My best guess is that Town will look to keep player sales to a minimum so they can have the best chance of a quick bounce back to the Championship. But having said that, they will most likely have to offload their biggest earners and their top performers may not want to drop down a division. With that in mind, I suspect that Lee Nichols, Michal Helik and Sorba Thomas will be the players we’ll have to sell. They have been consistently top performers at Championship level for several seasons and should have a fair few suitors in the summer. Our relegation may weaken our negotiating position but I’d still expect these three to command decent fees and reduce the need to sell other players in the squad to balance the books.
The other player I think it would make sense to try to move on would be Danny Ward, who I believe is our highest earner (though precise information on this front is a closely held secret). Ward most likely wouldn’t go for much, if any, of a fee but if we could find anyone willing to take on his contract it would be a deal worth taking for Town as it would reduce our outgoings. I can imagine some Town fans will express doubts about our ability to offload Ward. Still, when he’s fit he has a reasonable goals-per-minute record and has performed at Championship level over a long period, so it might be possible to get him off the books if we’re willing to let him go for free or next to nothing.
Players to sell:
- Helik
- Thomas
- Nichols
- Ward
Which players will leave?
Firstly, this season’s batch of loanees will all be returned to their parent clubs without a great deal of regret to see them go. Delano Burgzorg is the one who made the most impact but also created the most controversy, particularly with his recent tendency to ignore unmarked colleagues in the box in favour of blasting the ball at goalkeepers instead. Alex Matos looked OK at times but also drifted out of games and didn’t impose himself onto games as much as someone who hopes to be playing for Chelsea in the near future. It feels cruel to go into too much detail about how bad a signing Tom Edwards has been but those who watched his failure at Leeds away will know just how poor he’s been for us. Why we didn’t send him back in January is beyond me, as he has been miles below the standard required and for a professional footballer, he does not seem to be in good enough physical shape. I hope he can turn his career around as it hasn’t worked out for him at Town.
Yuta Nakayama will most likely not play for Town again, whether he is offered a new deal or not. It’s not worked out for him in Huddersfield despite the Japanese international clearly having loads of quality on the ball and working hard to adjust to the physicality of the English game. It would most likely suit his career to either find a club in a less physical league or at least a team in the English leagues that wants to play more football, like Swansea or Southampton, where his abilities would be appreciated more.
Jordan Rhodes is another player who leaves Town having never been played in a system that brought the best out of them (in his second spell at least) and despite the fact he has scored heavily for Blackpool in League One this season when fit, I can’t see us being willing to offer him a new deal, or him being willing to sign for us again.
Brahima Diarra would have signed a new deal months ago if he had any intention of doing so, which means he’ll leave the club in the summer and get his wish to join a new club as a free agent. What a disappointment, that such a promising prospect leaves having barely contributed anything of significance to the first team, despite the hundreds of hours our academy coaches will have spent helping to develop him (and the money paid to him along the way). While we’ll get a tribunal fee from his future club to compensate us for the expense of bringing him through our academy, these fees tend to be trivial compared to the cost of running an academy, given the number of duds you typically have to bring through for every decent player that emerges.
Aaron Rowe and Conor Mahoney are likely to see their loans end and contracts run out at the same time, neither have done enough to suggest they are good enough to justify new deals. Similarly, I expect Giosue Bellagambi will not get a new deal, given he’s now 22 and has not yet broken through to the first team set-up.
Loans ending:
- Burgzorg
- Matos
- Edwards
Release:
- Nakayama
- Rhodes
- Diarra
- Rowe
- Mahoney
- Bellagambi
Who will be offered new contracts?
The list of players I would offer new contracts to is fairly slim. Loick Ayina and Jacob Chapman seem like young players who are worth offering new deals so they can be retained as backup. Had we stayed up in the Championship they may not have been worth keeping around but in League One it’s possible that both can do a job as backup. [UPDATE: The club took up the additional year extension option on Ayina’s contract when he went out on loan in January, so hes definitely staying until at least summer 2025. I missed that bit of news at the time.]
Jonathan Hogg is a trickier question to answer. Like Danny Ward, Hogg is probably among the higher earners in the squad, and I’m not sure it would be possible to justify paying a top wage to a player that will almost certainly miss at least a third of the games in the season with injury niggles and has lost half a yard of pace over recent seasons. And yet, Town have consistently been unable to cope without him for long and dropping down to League One could give Hogg another lease on life. So if my hand was on the purse strings, I’d be willing to give Hogg another year but only if the money was right and, given his influence off the pitch is often more important than his contribution on it, he could transition to a player-coach role if that interested him.
To offer new deals:
- Ayina
- Chapman
- Hogg (reduced wage / player-coach?)
Who should be sent out on loan?
A few players are coming back from loan that I don’t think we can realistically expect to sell, that are still under contract but are also not likely to be good enough for our squad, even in League One. So with that in mind, I would try to foist these players off on loan again, either in Scotland, League Two or obscure foreign leagues. Or failing that, the Sacramento Republic may be an option.
Tyreece Simpson, Scott High and Kyle Hudlin all seem unlikely to be able to contribute in any meaningful way to an ambitious League One team. It may be that they are given a chance in preseason but I think I’ve seen enough of all three to be fairly confident they aren’t going to make it at Town. I’d love to be wrong about this, as players often are late bloomers, but so far all three have struggled with their previous opportunities.
To loan out:
- Simpson
- Hudlin
- High
Who’s left with all these comings and goings?
It’s very unlikely that all these predictions will come to pass, but here’s a quick run down of what each area of the pitch will look like and a quick comment from me about the relative strength of each area.
Goalkeepers
Maxwell
Chapman
I think Maxwell is a decent option for League One and the times we called upon him this season he was fine. Chapman has also done OK too, so can step up to the main backup role I think. Whether there is an academy keeper capable of being our third choice will dictate whether we need another keeper or if we can manage with what we have if Nichols goes.
Central defenders
Lees
Pearson
Balker
Ayina
Losing Helik and Nakayama from central defence would leave us a bit thin, particularly as Lees’ knee injury could rule him out for the start of preseason. Balker may also not fancy League One and want to leave too, but assuming he stays, I think he’ll be a regular starter. So maybe backup would be all that was needed.
Fullbacks
Spencer
Turton
Ruffels
Jackson
Headley
Fullback is one of the areas where Town have been badly exposed this season, with Turton and Ruffels missing most of the season with nasty injuries, Jackson and Headley have often shown themselves to be lacking in quality. Stepping down a division may suit them though but I wouldn’t want to underestimate the difficulty of League One. Brodie Spencer is the jewel in the crown of this list and it may be a struggle to keep hold of him after a fine few months upon his return from loan but I feel very strongly that our academy only works if we keep hold of players until they meet their maximum potential, so selling him in his teens doesn’t make footballing or economic sense.
Midfielders
Rudoni
Wiles
Kasumu
Austerfield
Iorpenda
(Hogg)
Rudoni is another player we may struggle to keep hold of after relegation but his tendency to get into good positions and then fail to finish chances may turn off potential suitors enough for us to keep him for this coming season. The rest of this list of midfielders does not scream quality, with Wiles struggling most of the season after his arrival from Rotherham, Kasumu working hard but often lacking in basic skill, Austerfield looking out of his depth when given a chance and Iorpenda talked up but rarely given meaningful minutes on the pitch. If Hogg gets another deal it may suck up the available funds for a decent replacement, so letting him leave and signing a younger, fitter model may be a more sensible move.
Wingers
Koroma
Jones
I thought I must have missed some wingers off this list but if Sorba goes, this really is the complete list of senior wingers on our books. And Pat Jones falls to pieces if he plays too many minutes and is more of a youth player. So it’s pretty clear that a winger is likely to be on the shopping list for the summer transfer market – assuming we make any signings.
Strikers
Healey
Radulovic
Harratt
Healey and Radulovic will hopefully stay around after only arriving in January, so I expect they will be first and second-choice strikers between them. Kian Harratt is due back from his gambling ban at the start of the season, so my money is on him being the third-choice striker. Ward was on my list to offload but I suspect he’ll be hard to move on, so he may be at the club too next season, which would leave us with a full complement of strikers. If not we could potentially sign another, particularly as trying to sign a striker is a long-running tradition of Huddersfield Town transfer windows.
What do you think? Who would you want to keep or sell from the current squad? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.
FFP issues may mean we have little money to spend in the transfer window and if Breitenteiter can’t get a tune out of the current players I have serious doubts he could when the “better” players have gone.
There is also the issue of bad apples and cliques in the dressing room which may require getting rid of more players. *
Your list has 22 players but most could/should be upgraded if possible for seasoned L1 players or kids of great promise plus some good well scouted loans if we are to get back next season. I don’t fancy a few years in L1 and if Nagle holds true to his desire for success we need a team to get us back up pronto.
We also have this issue that we may have strikers on the list but they don’t score goals. A bit of a joke that our loanee scored twice when all of Town could only score once. Is he that good or is the standard in the USA not up to our championship level ? If he’s that good why didn’t Breitenreiter play him ?
To me, Helik and maybe Nakayama would be the biggest misses if they left and if Nagle has ambitions should try to keep them by hook or by crook ! Unless * so I hope not.
Interested to hear your views on the recruitment/management side of things as so far they appear wanting.
‘Should they stay or should they go?’ you ask? I could have saved you a lot of time and effort – sell the f*****g lot!!!
This season has been just about as miserable as it gets. Bring on the cricket! This is my 7th relegation as a Town supporter for over 60yrs. Every single one has been painful but this one has been a horror show. The Warnock magic dust wasn’t going to last – we all knew that; Moore was a complete joke from his very first inarticulate interview; I had false hope at the end that a German might again be our saviour but that proved to be a false dawn too.
Supporting Town should carry a Government health warning – if you suffer from high blood pressure or a dodgy heart and if you’ve never been to anger management, you are advised not to support this team.
I absolutely agree Simon but FFP could be problem OR will Nagle gamble on overspending this year on the basis of better revenue when we are promoted 🤞
There must be a lot of hungry young players in the (even lower) divisions eager to make good without the disharmony which apparently exists now. An opportunity for Nagle to buck the trend and come up trumps.
I pretty much agree with your retained list.
However, the two key staff are Andre Breitenreiter and Hoggy. I am in 2 minds about both.
Looking at AB first. His record this season is worse than Warnock and Moore, not even getting a point a game. I also don’t see a style of game emerging or can think of players (Spencer excepted) who have flourished under him. However, we cannot keep changing managers every few months, he needs to have his own players and he has stacks loads of experience on getting teams promoted.
Now to Hoggy. He’s been at the club for a decade and I love his approach to the game. I’d love to see the stats by season as to how we do with and without him. But he has been captain in 2 shambolic relegations, where his leadership role should be holding things together.
I can’t decide what is best for either of them other than we should either wholeheartedly back or sack.
Same dilemma for me too. Mr Nagle has some tough calls to make. Hope his winning at all costs shines through.
i would not keep Hogg or Kasumu.we have been in desperate need of a ball playing midfielder since Mooy ,too much is said about Hogg,they have lost heavily when he has been in the side as well.it is obvious that after hearing some of the managers comments that some players have not been pulling their weight.Maybe bring Lewis O’Brien back and an Oliver Norwood type in .
My issue is not what money is made available for new players by Mr Nagle, but who is being given the responsibility to find the new recruits and ensure they provide good value and high performance for the money we spend. For too many years (with a couple of exceptions – Wagner and Corboran) we have seen shoddy recruitment of inexperienced head coaches/managers. Worse still we’ve had some shocking purchases of poor quality, extremely expensive players, (Mbenza stands out for me) and unfortunately they have just not been good enough, and the team has suffered. Where we have previously recruited well, we have sold at the first opportunity and cashed in for a short term gain. This tactic should be a warning to everyone in senior management at the club, that to have a chance to get out of this division, we must retain every one of the better players, and only sell when we have the replacement in through the door. Anyone who thinks this division will be easy, should look at how long it took Sunderland, Ipswich, Portsmouth, and Derby to get promoted and they have all got bigger fan bases than Huddersfield.
I agree with the above comment. Sell the lot. They have all let us down one way or another. I’m sorry if this gets anyones back up. But I don’t want Kian back, if the rumour is true that he placed bets against his own club. I’m on the fence about Andre. If he’s willing to stay then I don’t see any reason not to give him a chance.
Warnock once said that being manager was 90% man managing. He proved it by getting the best out of this squad. Breitenreiter was never going to be a success for a number of reasons. First he showed that he wasn’t fully committed to the role by moving here alone and leaving his family behind. He had no experience of English football especially the Championship. He was used to continental players with skill who did what they were told and could actually pass a ball. He didn’t the understand the mentality of English players so his man management skill has been zero. You can’t come into a club with a predetermined style and try to make average players play to it. You have to adapt to what you’ve got and he had never much to work with at Town. His only real success was the first match after Jon Worthington when he didn’t change anything. Then trying to impose his way of playing has been a disaster. For the last few matches the team have lost faith and respect in him which has reflected in confusion for them and the poor performances and is demonstrated by his “leaving early” comments when they couldn’t wait to get out of the place.
If the Championship was the wrong league for him, he has absolutely no chance of success in League 1. Any players he gets in or has use of will be of a much lower quality than those he has now so his “style” and management has even less chance of working. The bottom line is that he has to go and his words and body language already suggest that it’s what he wants too. Hopefully there is a performance clause in his contract where if he didn’t keep Town up then the contract could be terminated without too much cost. Whatever the circumasyances, he has to go.
Nagle, Edwards and Cartwright and their subordinates between them have made a complete mess of running our club and we need a new start with a management team who actually know what they are doing.
I like your analysis. I confess I hadn’t seen Breitenreiter quite so negatively but you make a good case.
What you say is true.
AB is from a different culture. Do what I say with no discussion.
Throughout his interviews he kept talking about quality.
I am not sure his so called revelations are the sign of a good man manager.
He made the decisions but the butt did not end with him.
Is there anything he has achieved? What evidence is there he understands league 1 well enough to take a team out of that mire. It’s a tough league and hard to leave. Town playing the way they did this season will not mean wins and fun. It will be more of the same. AB has not shown in anyway that he is right for the challenge.
In fly fishing there is an expression, “a good leader starts in the butt”.
Is A a good leader.?
Totally agree about Harratt. The guy is a total 🍆.
Love all the thoughtful analysis and pretty much agree with most of what’s been said. I don’t believe AB will want to stick around and I don’t think we should be encouraging him to stay. Hopefully we will see a statement that says AB is leaving by mutual consent and thank him for all his hard work etc etc. Last season the only bright spell was when Jon Worthington was in temporary charge. I think he needs to be approached to see if he can be persuaded to take the job on. Maybe dropping a league would persuade him that he has the skills? He would I’m sure be able to sort out the cliques and possible lack of professionalism that exists. He would be a fan favourite as he has been a good servant to the club both as player and coach and would have the respect of players as a no nonsense mid fielder .
He knows the academy and the players that have come through the academy and we will need to utilise that knowledge to bring players through as they will be more affordable wage wise and have bought into the HTFC culture. His no nonsense style of getting a tune out of players would suit league one and his simple messages to players acknowledged by them when he was in charge would be better than trying to get a sophisticated tune out of players who do not have that level of skill. Lewis O Brien for example. Hard worker, winning mentality and totally committed team player sadly found out in the Premier League where those attributes are not enough .You may point to the Danny Schofield experiment that went woefully wrong but time has shown he was just not up to it at that time or indeed since as I believe he is now down under plying his trade.
I go back a long way watching town to the days of Kevin Mc Hale, Les Quested, Bill Mc Garry etc but this season has probably been one of the most miserable. Fourteen 1-1 draws if just half of those could have become 2-1 wins and the other half 2-1 losses we would be 7 points better off and not heading for league 1 . Sobering thought.
I think we’re of a similar vintage; and I’m really pleased that you, like me, have endured some bloody awful seasons but this has been right up there with the most depressing. What is it that has made this so bad? There’s no doubt that the number of ‘false dawns’ has been a contributory factor – a new owner, 4 different managers, some new signings in January (albeit ineffectual); each time we think that this might turn the tide…..but it doesn’t.
Add to that the way we’ve been relegated. It’s been a whimper; no fight; no team ethic of ‘backs to the wall’. I’ve looked at the fixture list at various points in the season and felt it’s been relatively kind; I always felt there were little batches of ‘easy’ games against other struggling clubs, so if things didn’t go well in other league matches, we’d still have that opportunity of 2 or 3 quick wins which would get us out of trouble. As each fixture has come and gone and no wins, it starts to dawn that relegation is inevitable, something we’d probably have predicted back in September but somehow felt this isn’t going to happen.
And to make things worse, I have absolutely no optimism that we have either the management team or the players to bounce back quickly. Even when we were relegated from the Premier League with an awful squad of players, I felt the parachute payments would give us a sporting chance to quickly readjust and create a decent squad. That didn’t happen. There’s no indication that our new owner is going to dig deep, so I’m afraid it’s a gloomy outlook. Even shades of the 1970s when each season we felt things surely can’t get any worse…..but they did.
The one compensation that alleviates a bit of the pain, I was living in Huddersfield in the 1970s so the depression in the town was tangible every day; I haven’t lived in the town for not far off 50yrs and so I can cut myself off and just enjoy the countryside.
If Nagle has ambitions then keep JW to sort out the wheat from the chaff early on, but we need an experienced manger in charge.
Personally for L1 and Championship I believe we need a “manager” not a “head” coach. Ditch the back room exec boys apart from marketing and use the wages saved to get a good manager old style who buys and sells players. It’s not trendy but could be far more effective and efficient. When we get to the premiership we may want a technical director but until we are there then how about a touch of reality. I’m
Only good news from this debacle is I can watch HT at Exeter next season only 25 miles away. I believe Kevin Nagle probably has deeper pockets than previous owners and I dont think his ambition will have deserted him as a result of relegation . Good business men and I suspect that he is want a return on their investment and I’m sure within FFP rules he will back the club. However I am not so sure AB will as he said in interview he doesn’t do third tier club management and I don’t think I want him too. I think he is a decent guy and a good coach given the right raw material but he won’t have that initially once our better players have jumped ship which they surely will. It will then be down to Mark Cartwright to find players who are the right profile and frankly the jury is still out with him.