Huddersfield Town head into Saturday’s game with Brentford with a squad that is still worryingly thin. So it’s no surprise that Town fans are chomping at the bit for news of any potential transfers on the horizon.
Below is a summary of the rumours that have been flying around about Town lately. Some feel a lot less likely than others but I thought I’d present them all anyway just in case they come to anything down the line.
Carl Eiting from Ajax
Let’s start with the most exciting rumour that emerged yesterday afternoon. Carl Eiting has been linked with a loan move to Town after a few injury-hit seasons at Ajax stalled his promising start in the game. He was part of the crop of Ajax youngsters that include big-money Premier League transfers this summer, Ziyech and van de Beek.
He looks like he would be the perfect deep-lying playmaker for Carlos Coberán’s new tactical approach. A bad knee injury has limited his chances at Ajax but if he can stay fit at Town then he could be the kind of creative presence we’ve so badly lacked since Aaron Mooy’s departure.
🔵🐶Huddersfield Town are closing in on the signing of Ajax midfielder Carel Eiting. #HTFC #EFL_HUB pic.twitter.com/G8Cuw7ZT8Y
— EFL HUB ⚜️ (@efl_hub) September 16, 2020
Report about Town player’s potential departure disappears
This is a weird one. I was going to write about a Town player that was linked with a move abroad in this section but when I went to find the article about this rumour it had been wiped from the internet. A national newspaper had run the story but now it’s not to be found.
Googling the name of the Town player revealed a search result showing the story but when I clicked on it the page was “unavailable” and the URL for the page started with “legal-removal”, suggesting someone was keen for that story not to be out in the public domain.
Hopefully you’ll understand that I don’t want any legal complications with the blog, so I’m not going to name the player, the club or the publication and I’d be grateful for commenters not to as well. Believe it or not, this blog doesn’t earn enough money to employ a legal team.
James Garner deal stalled
I wrote yesterday about the ongoing rumours of Town trying to take James Garner on loan but the latest seems to be that talks have stalled. It’s a shame but this deal may have dragged on too long and other, more appealing options may have emerged.
Even though Eiting is a more exciting loanee than Garner, I can’t see why we couldn’t bring them both to Town. Both seem capable of playing as a more advanced midfielder if the other was to play as the screen in front of defence.
Two potential deals for James Garner have fallen through in the past week, though he will still depart on loan this summer. Huddersfield Town and Coventry City had both been interested in season-long loan deals, though he is not expected to join either club. [men] #mufc #RS pic.twitter.com/oE77RwsDFs
— Red Devil Updates (@reddupdates) September 15, 2020
Charlie Austin from West Brom
Imagine Huddersfield Town signed the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a replacement for Karlan Grant. Or Fred West. Or Genghis Khan. None of those villains would generate the levels of outrage if they signed for Town that Charlie Austin would.
That’s why I’m not even a bit surprised that the rumour of Charlie Austin joining Town as a makeweight in the Karlan Grant deal was complete garbage. Only James McClean at Stoke produces the same level of vitriol from Town fans as Austin, so it would be crazy to bring him here despite the fact he’s a decent enough striker for this level.
https://twitter.com/htafcdreams/status/1305975508480425984
Lee Gregory
This is another of those rumours which isn’t likely to come to anything. There’s nothing wrong with Lee Gregory, he’s established at Championship level and has a reasonable but not exceptional goals to games ratio.
He’s 32 though and I don’t think we’re likely to sign forwards that are in this age bracket because of the amount of running expected of players in the new system. Particularly when we’ve already got Frazier Campbell in the squad, who plays the same position and is now 33 years old.
EXCLUSIVE: 🔁Charlton Athletic & Huddersfield Town are battling it out to sign Stoke City striker Lee Gregory. #CAFC #HTFC #SCFC #EFL_HUB pic.twitter.com/ZudUoyPQA7
— EFL HUB ⚜️ (@efl_hub) September 16, 2020
Karlan Grant to WBA stalled with Bilic willing to be patient
The ongoing negotiations between Town and West Brom appear to have hit an impasse at the time of writing. Despite both clubs and the player wanting the deal to go though, the final details appear to be the stumbling block.
It’s been rumoured that a fee has been agreed that both clubs are happy with but the structure of the payments being proposed isn’t to Town’s liking. West Brom have had to spend a lot already this summer on securing permanent deals for players that impressed on loan with them last season so their transfer budget is diminished.
On the other side, I can’t see Town being willing to wait a long time to receive the money due for selling their prized asset. Phil Hodgkinson, in his interview with the And He Takes That Chance podcast, bemoaned how the payments for Philip Billing transfer last summer were spread out over years and the first installment would all be swallowed up in tax.
With fans anxious for money to be spent on the squad it’s understandable that we’d be pushing to get some money up front that can be put back into the squad.
What do we make to these comments by WBA boss? #htafc
https://t.co/86vnkuQpuO— Huddersfield Town – Yorkshire Live (@ExaminerHTAFC) September 16, 2020
In the state we are currently in either or both Austen and McLean should be welcomed with open arms. Not sure why you want to be complicit in disrespectIng two successful and effective professionals in this way.
Both get an awful lot of stick from fans and would quite obviously be unpopular if they came to Town. I don’t think it’s disrespecting them to say this.
I personally don’t particularly mind McLean, I think he’s one of those players that winds opposition fans up because it helps motivate him.
Austin’s stamp on Lössl was nasty and he’s generally quite a niggly player, so I’m not a huge fan. I mention in the article that he’s a decent enough player but not a personality that I’ve taken to.
Having said all that, we could probably do with a bit of nastiness on our team. We can be a bit too nice at times. Hogg’s the only one in our squad I’d be worried about playing against.
Much like most of Town’s attacks, this is an ‘OK’ attack by Gavin but easilly defended by Terrier Spirit. Another clean sheet for the oposition team.
Austin would be a wonderful signing, and for me it’s a no brainer to do a player exchange with Albion. He’d score a sack full of goals back at this level, with the kind of support our non stop high pressing system would supply for him. He doesn’t have to play the system, he just needs to feed off it. the other 10 need to use the system to supply Austin in and around the box. What’s the point of creating a load of chances when we have absolutely no one that can convert them.
I like what you’re describing there but I’d rather the striker banging them in was a bit more likeable than Charlie Austin. He’s clearly a good striker but I’d not want him at Town. I think the dislike goes both ways too, lots of Town fans made fun of him in tears when we beat West Brom in July and I can imagine he’d not be too keen on joining us.
I’d personally like Austin at town. But agree it’s unlikely. I remember Scott sellers (ex Leeds & Blackburn) getting substituted at home to Burnley to a chant of ” you’ll always be a scummer” from the Burnley fans which became louder when htfc fans joined in! Don’t think he played for us again.
Ha! Ex-Leeds players always have to do a bit more to win Town fand over. I liked Clayton and Wijnhard but can’t think of any others off the top of my head. Beckford seemed like he was at Town just for the pay day.
More rumours at town, until you see a player with his name and number on a shird it’s codswallop guess ology utt
I think it’s quite often agent’s feeding stories into the press to engineer moves. Or journalists making them up out of thin air. I hope the Ajax lad comes off though, that could be a coup for us.
I can’t see why we should sell Grant in the first place then get a has-been to replace him. They should price Grant out of the market, pay him more if necessary and get him back in the team. But then we would need a management with ambition and a chairman with enough money to back that ambition, neither of which seems to be the case. Division 1 beckons with this set of players and everyone seems to know it but we are sleepwalking into the situation which prevailed when the Cowleys came and they won’t be here to rescue us next time.
The trouble is that Grant wants to leave and its very hard in that situation to keep him. As well as better wages, he wants to play in the Premier League. Footballers have short careers, so I can’t really blame him for wanting to test himself at the highest level before he reaches his prime.
I’m optimistic we’ll pull out finger out in the transfer market and bring in some quality signings before the window closes.
We should have pushed to get business done early rather than wait until after the league had started but its too late to change that now.