With the transfer window still a few weeks away, Huddersfield Town’s roster needs are already clear.
Before the January transfer window opens, there is still a lot of football left to play, but efforts will already be made to add the depth and improve the Championship standing of the Terriers team by bringing in reinforcements.
Darren Moore’s Huddersfield Town team is currently playing at an extremely high level. Although he hopes that by the time the transfer window opens on January 1st, the injury list will have somewhat improved, even with a fully-fit squad falling well short of the ideal level for a comfortable Championship season—if such a thing exists.
Although there is still time for form, fitness, and other factors to change, we believe that Town should concentrate their efforts here for the time being, whether through Premier League loans, transfers from overseas, or acquiring players from other EFL teams. It is roughly arranged in order of decreasing priority.
A striker (or two) – An obvious need going back, ooh, at least a year, and one that Town have consistently failed to fill. An out-and-out striker who is capable of playing as a lone striker would be ideal, while if Town can find a target man type who can come on and offer something different when plan A fails would go a long way
A ball-playing central midfielder – We would ideally add ‘experienced like-for-like cover for Jonathan Hogg’, but we think there’s a way to kill two birds with one stone – or should that be, kill two birds with John Stones? No, it shouldn’t. But a Championship equivalent who could play either as a deep-lying defensive midfielder whenever Hogg is absent, and complement Jack Rudoni and/or Ben Wiles in a slightly more advanced role, would go a long way: a Carel Eiting or Alex Vallejo type, essentially.
A winger? We are tempted, at this point, to add a winger to the wishlist too, but getting the right centre-forward(s) in would allow Town to put Josh Koroma and Delano Burgzorg back in their preferred left wing role. However, there still isn’t a right-sided alternative to Sorba Thomas…is three players for two roles enough, especially when Koroma and Burgzorg have struggled to get going properly this season?
A centre-back with a bit of pace (preferably left-footed) – Low on the wishlist as we think Josh Ruffels has done this job superbly when fit this season…Yuta Nakayama, less so. But if Moore wants to put Ruffels at left-back (grand) or wing-back (nah), he would need someone to take his place – Town have been done for pace too much this season already.
Take loan recalls into consideration. Josh Koroma, Kian Harratt, and Jaheim Headley all had an impact after returning from their respective stints in January of last season at Portsmouth, Bradford City, and Harrogate Town. Could any of Town’s current players who are on loan be able to contribute this season? The most likely candidates appear to be center-forward Jordan Rhodes and full-back Brodie Spencer, especially if Tom Edwards decides to rejoin Stoke.
A center-back? Basically entirely reliant on Ollie Turton’s recuperation; if he’s back by the time the transfer window opens, you can assume that position is filled. However, having some backup would give us some comfort in knowing that Matty Pearson won’t be forced to play out of position for Town once more. Now that he’s had some experience at Motherwell, Spencer could be that player.
Take loans out into consideration: Should Town complete all of this, it will move a few players—especially Josh Austerfield and Kyle Hudlin—down the list of priority. Though their income won’t be particularly high, every little bit helps with the pay bill.and in any case, they require regular experience.
Examine the players whose contracts expire at the end of the current campaign: Town will need to make decisions regarding a number of players whose contracts are about to expire in the summer, but Nakayama and Brahima Diarra are arguably the most reliable. Town will only go for nothing in the summertime if they can’t get any sort of money for either of them, so they’ll have to think about it.
