What are Huddersfield Town’s transfer priorities?

Today marks the start of preseason training and, most likely, will see transfer talk start to intensify now everyone is back from their holidays.

Last week I looked at which members of the current squad are likely to stay at the club beyond this transfer window. Based upon those assumptions, I’ve taken a look at which areas of the pitch are most in need of fresh blood.

Wingers, lots and lots of wingers

This is the area of the pitch I’m most worried about. If Grant is sold then we are left with Josh Karoma and the kids in the academy. Or gambling on Mbenza and Diakhaby taking the latest in the large number of chances they’ve been given.

If we play 433 most of next season we will need wide players that can score plenty of goals. The majority of our goals last season came from wide areas and unless we sign a prolific central striker, I can imagine it will be wide players we rely on for goals again.

I can’t see us spending huge sums of money this window but a quality goal-scoring winger would be a wise investment, so I hope this is the position where we focus the bulk of our transfer kitty. It won’t be easy to replace Karlan Grant so spending some money will hopefully increase our chances.

One quality signing won’t be enough though. We need options, so could see loan players or free agent widemen coming in too. If we can get a promising youngster from a Premier League academy then that might help to produce a bit of spark on the final third.

An experienced goalkeeper

Ryan Schofield may be given a chance to be our first choice keeper this season but even if he is, we’ll need a keeper with a bit of experience alongside him. If we are going to flood the team with kids this season then an older and more experienced pro would be useful to have in the dressing room.

We also don’t know if Schofield can cut it at Championship level yet either, so we need proper competition for him. Some might say that Hamer could fill this role but I would personally prefer to see him moved on.

Yesterday saw Town linked with Leeds United’s third choice keeper, but at 23 years old and having never played for Leeds, I’d be reluctant to take him unless he’s significantly better than the young keeper we already have.

A first choice right back

Demeaco Duhaney received a contract extension recently, so must be part of the club’s plans. It’s less clear whether Hadergjonaj is going to hang around and he’s inconsistent at best. I’m not sure the Championship is the right kind of football for him, so I’d like to see someone else brought in to fill this spot.

If Trevoh Chalobah returns then he could be our right back. It was this position that he looked most competent and best suited his abilities. Whether he’s capable of being an aggressively overlapping, attacking fullback is unknown and it could be that he’s not a good fit for the ambition to play more energetic, attacking football.

Danny Simpson did a good job of steadying the ship when he came in as a free agent last season but his lack of dynamism going forward cost us at times. If we are going to have more attacking full backs then we’ll need someone with a better engine and most probably the right side of thirty.

A quick striker

You could argue that Town have enough striker options in Frazier Campbell and Steve Mounié. But both are quite limited in the way that they play and neither has the kind of electric pace that can get in behind opposition defences. That’s the kind of player I would like to see us looking to get.

Frazier Campbell isn’t exactly slow but most of his energy is focussed on pressing our opponent’s defensive line (and often needlessly fouling them) and Steve Mounié runs a bit like Andy Booth did in his second spell at Town, by which I mean it looks like his knees have gone and he’s wading through treacle.

So a young, talented striker would be a good choice to have up front. It’s possible that academy youngsters Kian Harrat or Kieran Phillips will be able to fill this need in the squad but if they’re not ready to compete at the Championship level then we’re going to be short in one of the most vital positions on the pitch.

A ball playing Central midfielder

Town have not yet replaced Aaron Mooy since his departure last summer. While we’re unlikely to get someone of equivalent quality we need someone that can dictate play and control the game from the centre of the pitch. O’Brien has come in and done a brilliant job as a box-to-box midfielder but doesn’t do the same thing Mooy did.

I would like to see us bring in a player that can pull the strings from midfield and has a range of passing that can open up opportunities. Town’s build up play was often too laboured last season, switching to a more attacking style will require having midfielders that can move the ball quickly and pick out killer passes.

It’s possible that Matty Daly could fulfil this role in time but he’s unproven. Bacuna shows flashes of this kind of quality but doesn’t do it for extended periods. Hogg doesn’t have the ability on the ball. So we’re going to need to look to the transfer market to bring class to this part of the pitch.

Everywhere else on the pitch

I’m all honesty, our squad is so thin that we could do with first team quality players in every department.

Central defence may be OK if Elphick is genuinely fit and back to his best. That’s also assuming Rarmani Edmonds-Green is ready for the step up to the Championship. If either of these assumptions is wrong we’ll need another centre back. If Schindler wants to leave then we’ll be desperate for a replacement of similar quality but I’m hopeful that he’ll want to stay for the new project we’re starting under Corberán.

Left back, usually our problem positon, is probably the area of least concern. Toffolo came in and played every game since January and looks like a quality player. Jaden Brown is young but gained a lot of experience in the earlier stages of last season.

So, in summary, we need players and quite a few of them. I’m not sure how many of our academy lads can fill these gaps but I wouldn’t want to put too much pressure on youngsters by leaving holes in the squad. We got away with not having a senior left back last season because Jaden Brown stepped up but that was a huge gamble and it’s not fair to put that kind of pressure on young players.