An annual ritual for Huddersfield Town is to put out a video of the first day of preseason training. They aren’t the most interesting things to watch but given the complete lack of Town related news lately, I watched it anyway. I know it’s a bit sad to then check off which players were and weren’t training but I did it, so here we are.
Criticise me all you like but I did it find interesting seeing which players weren’t in the video. Quite a few of the first team squad didn’t feature. This may be for innocuous reasons but you look at the list it seems to correlate with players that could be leaving Town this transfer window.
Which players didn’t feature in the video?
Here’s a list of the players I couldn’t see:
Elphick – No huge surprise that Elphick wasn’t there for the first day of training given the nasty injury he picked up last season. At his age, any injury layoff this long has to be classed as “career threatening” so it will be a relief to see him fit and training (I know not all fans agree but I think he’s the kind of player the team needs).
Hadergjonaj – He was shipped out on loan in January and there was talk last summer that he thought he was too good for the Championship (whereas his performances suggested he wasn’t good enough).
Sohbi – Egyptian football blogs have already announced his sale to Pyramids FC (which sounds like a made up team name from Pro Evo). I would be stunned to see him play for Town again.
Reece Brown – Rumoured to be attracting interest from Wycombe and Peterborough. I would still have expected to see him in training. It may be I just missed him. Thanks to Denny Ledger on Twitter for pointing out that Reece Brown was indeed in Huddersfield for training yesterday.
I saw Reece Brown, on Instagram with Crichlow, Koroma and Edmonds-Green in Prep too.
— Denny Ledger (@denny_ledger) August 13, 2020
Kongolo – Downed tools around November time last year and finished the season on loan at Fulham, where he picked up a season ending injury withing a few games. It could be that he’s not ready for full training or the rumours of a permanent move to Fulham may have more substance than the usual tittle tattle. (UPDATE: Thanks to @divadawni on Twitter for the update on Kongolo, it seems he is still recovering from his injury.)
Kongolo pictures himself doing workouts at town on insta , still on recovery from operation?
— ⅅᎯᏇℕℐ 💋 (@divadawni) August 13, 2020
Frazier Campbell – After struggling through the post-lockdown games while carrying an injury he was allowed additional time off to recover, so was the only one expected to miss out the start of preseason training.
Who turned up for training that might have been expected to stay away?
There’s been talk among fans of some outcast players being given a second chance. Even if there are a few destined to be moved on, they need to get fit for whichever club they ultimately move to, so it makes sense to have them in for training. Here’s who turned up for training that some fans might not have expected:
Mbenza – Town were compelled to buy him last summer despite him not doing enough to justify his price tag. A new coach gives him another chance to prove himself.
Diakhaby – Another player that may be hoping for another chance. He’s already had plenty but his raw pace may tempt Corberán into trying to get a tune out of him. I’m sceptical given the limited glimpses he’s shown of being a decent footballer in his time at Town.
Grant – Last season’s top goalscorer is widely expected to be sold this window. Reports linked West Brom to him yesterday but he still turned up and put in a shift.
Hamer – Despite a reasonably accomplished career prior to joining Town, few fans fancy seeing Hamer back in a Town shirt due to repeated errors he’s made. A loan stint at Derby last season showed he can compete at Championship level, so perhaps he deserves another chance. Again, I’m not completely convinced.
Are the players absent from training going to leave?
There are a number of innocent and unexciting reasons for players to not be in this video. They could have been in the loo, have a niggling injury or be quarantining after a holiday in Spain.
The fact that many of the absentees have been linked with moves away from Town makes me suspicious but we’ll have to wait and see.
The full list of players that I recognised in the video:
Not including the academy lads that seemed to be there to make up the numbers, here’s the list of players I noticed on the video:
- Hogg
- Duhaney
- Bacuna
- O’Brien (no surprise the club’s media team made sure he was in the video given their recent obsession with him)
- Toffolo
- Pritchard
- Edmonds Green
- Stearman
- Mbenza
- Diakhaby
- Hamer
- Schindler
- Jaden Brown
- Mounié
- Matty Daly
- Grant
If the above is going to form the basis of our squad next season then straight away it looks obvious to me that we need both the quality and quantity to be improved as quickly as possible. Let’s hope the transfers in start to happen relatively quickly, so the new boys can be brought up to speed.