Huddersfield Town are currently bottom of the league, riddled with injuries and looking League One in the face. As the club is currently up for sale it seems unlikely there will be a large war chest available for new blood in January, so another potential source of fresh faces
could be to recall some of our youngsters who are currently out on loan.
I thought it might be interesting to take a look to see which of the crop of loanees might be interesting to Mark Fotheringham, based on a combination of their stats for their loans so far and the gaps in the current Town squad. Here’s what I’ve found out…
Ryan Schofield
On loan at: Hibs
Level: SPL
Games played: 0
WhoScored.com average rating: N/A
Stats: Number of times he’s warmed the bench: 9
He was signed as a backup keeper and has had to wait patiently for his chance. It’s impossible to know how he’s getting on north of the border based on zero information but I hope that the time away from Huddersfield has given him the space he needed to recover from some bruising periods in his early career. There’s no reason to pull him back though, if anything, this loan shows he’s not good enough for us as I’d consider the SPL to be a lower standard than the Championship and he’s still not getting game time. It may be worth recalling him and putting him out on loan somewhere in need of a first choice keeper, if he’s ready for that pressure. His contract is up in the summer and it would be helpful for his career to be in the shop window, as I doubt Town will be willing to offer him a new deal.
Rarmani Edmonds-Green
On loan at: Wigan
Level: Championship
Games played: 1 – (6 minutes)
WhoScored.com average rating: 6.26
Stats: N/A
This loan move didn’t make any sense to me until I heard a throwaway comment on a podcast about him coming back from preseason out of shape. Then I remembered how he kept getting subbed around 60 minutes in most of the games he started early in the season, which is unusual for central defenders that aren’t injured. I don’t know if there’s any truth to this half-remembered rumour but it would explain why a previously well regarded player suddenly fell from favour and was shipped out to a league rival.
A recall would make sense in many ways, as Wigan currently sit one place above Town. Why would we give another relegation rival one of our players to help them? It seems bonkers. Also, if they aren’t going to play him anyway, why not keep him in our set up, so we can monitor him more closely and make sure his development is properly on track? Not to mention the fact that Mbete can then be sent back to Man City.
Josh Koroma
On loan at: Portsmouth
Level: League One
Games played: 9 (5 starts / 4 as a sub)
WhoScored.com average rating: 6.58
Stats: 2 goals / 1 assist
I’m a bit shocked by these numbers. I thought that this loan would be a perfect chance for Koroma to drop a level to build his confidence against weaker defenses and completely boss League one. Instead he’s struggled to even get into the Portsmouth team and when he has been given a chance he’s failed to shine.
He’s a complete mystery, as he looked like he would be even better than Karlan Grant at one stage, with his ability to cut in and score excellent right-footed goals but also able to run and take on his man. He should be a class act at that level but something isn’t right. With time running out on his contract, it’s now clear he’s not going to rekindle his form while he’s a Town player so I think he’ll be allowed to stay out on loan until his contract runs out and become a free agent in the summer.
Scott High
On loan at: Rotherham
Level: Championship
Games played: 13 (2 starts 11 as sub – both starts came in the league cup)
WhoScored.com average rating: 6.19
Stats: There’s usually something but no stats stand out apart from a 78% pass completion rate, which is hardly something to write home about.
Like Edmonds-Green, this was a baffling loan as it had potential to strengthen a Championship rival. As it happens, Rotherham’s existing midfielders are better than High, so he’s not been able to force his way into the starting lineup. He’s made 11 sub appearances but never to any great impact by the looks of things.
This was such a strange loan, as he’s barely got a look in at Rotherham but we’ve been desperately short in midfield since he left. For example, Kasumu is suspended against QPR, Russell out of favour, Hogg injured, so Camara is the only central midfielder that is available and he’s a kid from the B Team we’ve had to promote to fill the gap (though he has done well in fairness). So instead of hardly playing for a rival he could have gained significant experience for our first team. Bonkers.
Having said all that, High, despite being well loved behind the scenes at the club, was pretty dodgy at times last season when we gave him a chance. So if we do recall him he will have to prove himself before he’ll be given a chance.
Romoney Crichlow
On loan at: Bradford
Level: League Two
Games played:15 (13 league / 2 League cup)
WhoScored.com average rating: 6.87
Stats: 5.7 clearances per game, 3.7 aerial duels won per game
While there’s a big difference between League Two and Championship football, Crichlow is probably the player that seems to be thriving the most of all Town’s legion of loan players. I follow him on Twitter and it seems that Bradford fans genuinely love him and he’s enjoying his time there.
I think it’s a tricky decision about whether to recall him or not. As our loan of Mbete from Man City seems on the verge of collapse as we don’t trust him to play games and City aren’t likely to want him to stay if he’s not playing. Crichlow is left-sided, so covers the same role but may not get many games for us if Lees and Helik are both fit. Given Nakayama’s injury and the fact that Fotheringham likes the option of playing a three at the back sometimes, it may be with recalling Crichlow.
There is a possibility that we might upset Bradford’s playoff push by taking away one of their better players too. This would be a crying shame, and obviously we should be sensitive to our neighbour’s ambitions to get out of League Two and put their needs above our own. Right?
Kian Harratt
Not on loan at Bradford anymore but was until last week.
Level: League Two
Games played: 6 (1 league cup start / 5 sub appearances in League Two)
WhoScored.com average rating: 6.11
Stats: 0 goals / 1 assist
Harrat’s loan was terminated last week after he was fined for hare coursing. I won’t go into the specifics of what this involves but it’s a cruel and unpleasant thing to do and it’s frankly weird that a professional sportsman has potentially sabotaged his career before it’s even got going for an activity that shouldn’t even exist anymore.
There’s currently an internal investigation going on about what’s happened but seeing as though he’s been found guilty in court and there are screenshots of his social media posts floating about online it seems like a fairly open and shut case. Fotheringham confirmed he would face a disciplinary process last week, so hopefully that will deal with the matter.
Putting ethical worries aside, there’s no realistic hope that he can cut it in the Championship when he’s not even been able to get in the starting eleven of a team two tiers below us. And when he’s been given opportunities he’s struggled to make any impact. If he was genuinely Championship standard then I’d expect him to absolutely tear up League Two, in a similar way to how Erling Haaland is making mincemeat of the Premier League at the moment.
Jaheim Headley
On loan at: Harrogate
Level: League Two
Games played: 12
WhoScored.com average rating: 6.65
Stats: 2.5 tackles per game / 2.2 clearances per game
The first of four players to feature from Harrogate, who I’ve heard be referred to as Huddersfield Town C because of their tendency to pick up our youngsters on loan. Headley has got plenty of game time at left back this season and seems to be doing a decent job so far.
Nakayama’s long-term injury may tempt Town to hit the recall button on Headley but the emergency of Jackson as a Championship-level player and Ruffels still being available makes me think Crichlow may be a more obvious option as we’re most in need of cover for a left-sided central defender rather than left back.
Josh Austerfield
On loan at: Harrogate
Level: League Two
Games played: 12 (1 league cup start, 9 League Two starts, 2 sub appearances)
WhoScored.com average rating: 6.60
Stats: 1 assist, 4 yellow cards, 48.7 passes per game
I have really liked the look of Josh Austerfield whenever he’s played for Town in preseason games. He’s a classy looking deep-lying defensive midfielder. League Two is probably a tough level for him to shine at because there won’t be the time on the ball for him to express himself but it will force him to learn to move the ball quickly and toughen up a bit too.
Looking at the numbers, it seems like Austerfield has not mastered this level of football and still needs to nail down his place as a regular starter in League Two. There’s no point pulling him back to our level before he can do this. Besides, Etienne Camara has come into the position he plays and is doing a great job and there’s no point having two young defensive midfielders in the squad when only one can play.
Matty Daly
On loan at: Harrogate Town
Level: League Two
Games played: 17 (13 League Two starts, 3 sub, 1 start in the league cup) + at least one start in the FA Cup
WhoScored.com average rating: 6.56
Stats: 5 goals / 0 assists
I’m a little bit surprised that Matty Daly is only 21 years old as he seems to have been one of those players that we’ve been talking about as a prospect for at least a decade now. While that’s an exaggeration, he did make his debut for Town in the 2018/19 season, so we’re going back a good while, to say he’s still not properly broken through to the first team.
He’s done fairly well at Harrogate this season with five goals in 17 appearances. That’s not including his match-winning goal against Bradford last weekend in the FA Cup, as I’ve just noticed FA Cup games are annoyingly not included in the stats website I’ve been taking my data from.
I think we should bring Daly back and give him a chance to see if he can make an impact on the Championship. It would probably have been better for him to have been on loan in League One, so he had a smaller gap to step up from but he’s now at a stage in his career where he needs to be pushing himself to play at the highest level possible.
Danny Grant
On loan at: Harrogate
Level: League Two
Games played: 7 (5 starts, 2 sub)
WhoScored.com average rating: 6.2
Stats: 0 goals / 1 assist
Given that Danny Grant was seen as the answer to all our prayers, these numbers are not all that encouraging. He’s not played many games and hasn’t made much of an impact when he has. It’s still early days and he’s overcoming a long periods of illness and injury so he probably needs a bit of time to get up to speed. For that reason it seems pretty obvious that keeping him out on loan makes sense to give him the best chance of coming back to Huddersfield next summer in the best possible form.
Kyle Hudlin
On loan at: Wimbledon
Level: League Two
Games played: 8 (1 start in the league cup, 7 sub appearances in League Two)
WhoScored.com average rating: 6.2)
Stats: 0 goals, 0 assists, 43.4% pass completion
Looking at his minutes played, it doesn’t seem like Hudlin has been given much of a chance yet. He mostly gets chucked on late in games, most likely to either try and grab a late goal or to defend a lead given his colossal size.
It’s tempting to think we should have him on the pitch purely for Sorba Thomas to drop the ball on his head for set pieces but that feels like trying to reduce football to American football, where they have a “special teams” group that come on just for kicking field goals. It seems that he’s most likely way off the required ability level to play at even League Two level, so a recall to play in the Championship would be a mistake.
Kieran Phillips
On loan at: Morecambe
Level: League One
Games played: 12 (11 starts, 1 sub)
WhoScored.com average rating: 6.64
Stats: 4 goals, 1 assist
While his stats aren’t setting the world on fire, Phillips is doing steady away at Morecambe. A goal every three games isn’t to be sniffed at, he’s holding down a regular place in the team and is being played as a central striker too. Previously loan spells had seen him shunted out to the wing, where he wasn’t getting the experience he needed as the main striker.
Given Phillips stats are no better than Rhodes and Ward’s but at a lower level, there’s no reason to recall him as he doesn’t improve that area of the pitch. Particularly when you consider we have Simpson returning to fitness too and Ondo in the B Team as an option if needed.
Who might Fotheringham consider recalling?
I think it might be worth acknowledging that we got two of our loans in wrong this season first. Mbete and Kesler-Heyden haven’t worked out and should be sent back if we aren’t going to pay them. Then we can bring back Crichlow and Edmonds-Green to replace them in the squad. This would most likely be cheaper in terms of wages and would arguably be an improvement in quality as well as meaning we are developing our own players rather than other teams when we play them.
Further up the field, Scott High would seem like another player that could be brought back to give us more depth in that area of the field. Similarly, Matty Daly would give us a bit more competition in attacking midfield.
For the other players on loan, it may be that we exercise our recall option but only so we can recycle them out on loan somewhere else. Last January we moved a lot of our loanees around to either give them a fresh challenge or to get them into teams where they had more of a chance of getting game time. I expect we’ll see more of this kind of thing in January too.
I’m currently self-isolating for obvious reasons; so for entertainment I watched Portsmouth’s FA Cup game, Koroma has taken his Town form with him! I agree with you about REG, Crichlow and Daly all should return; the first two are far more comfortable with the ball at their feet than any of our central defenders and Daly has pedigree, I’m pretty sure he played in an England U17 team that won a tournament. Could be wrong though.
Just checked lost on pens to Netherland in semi-final. He scored in shoot-out.
No, please, no. The Town squad is pretty poor and somebody recognised that those players sent out on loan were adding nothing to the squad’s quality. By definition, they were not strengthening the squad. Nor would they now.
Furthermore, the clubs to which players have been farmed out also seem to have realised that the player they’ve loaned aren’t up to much. Players that others have defended, including you TS, I have consistently criticised. I wasn’t alone in being critical of Schofield but there weren’t many joining me in my criticism of Koroma and High. Koroma had a brief purple patch of scoring; that’s all. Otherwise he’s nowt. As a former very mediocre right back, he’s the sort of player I’d loved to have marked. Block his inside run and he’s nowhere to go without a left foot. Some have raved over Scott High; I’ve never seen him do anything that’s logged in my memory. Did he ever score? How many assists did he get? How many crunching tackles to win the ball? If you don’t impact the match from midfield, well I’m afraid it’s not going to cut it with me.
Recalling loan players is not the answer, TS. Indeed there’s another half-dozen I’d gladly ship out if anyone would take them!
I can’t believe people are at all surprised by Town’s present plight. We were pretty awful in many matches last season but squeezed out some results. We transferred out our 2 best players and lose an exceptional loan talent in Colwill. We didn’t exactly score a load of goals last season and the only addition is a player already out injured for half the season. I tell you, Simpson must be a heck of a prospect to take that risk!
I agree with Simon it’s crazy business to sign a player that can’t play for several months where is the thinking not the first time either last season Anjoirin from Chelsea on loan played two games last season Town have him again surprise surprise again what every the reason he not available to play
We gave Sarr a free transfer to Reading and is playing regularly and scored a goal and that’s something Town have great difficulty in doing . Getting a replacement coach is going to solve nothing in fact at times we have played attractive football we just can’t score goals Meanwhile we, have a good striker not on pitch but in the treatment room well we hope he’s good. What Town need is replace the player recruiting staff
I also agree with Simon. We don’t want any of them back. None of them are exactly setting the place alight in the lower leagues either. Over the years, Town have had poor players but I have never seen them have a whole squad of indifferent players. It looks like Hoyle got his fingers burnt with the abysmal signings made in the Premier League with Wagner. He has now gone so far the other way that we have a team of 1st or 2nd division players who just aren’t up to Championship standard. Unfortunately, because of the impending sale, there won’t be much investment in January either. A lot of people have said that Hoyle has kept the club afloat as a fan by his contributions since the Hodgkinson era but Baldwin has said that Hoyle was putting money in to protect his investment. It won’t be protected if we are relegated.