Huddersfield Town transfer rumour roundup

If you’re looking for the most recent Huddersfield Town transfer news from a club insider, look away now. If you want a collection of wild supposition and unproven nonsense, continue reading.

With expectations set appropriately low, here’s a compilation of all the stories circulating on the internet. The majority are unlikely to occur, but just as a stopped clock is correct twice a day, one or two may be true.

Feeling Low(e)?

Let’s start with a two-for-one rumour: Joe Low and Nathan Lowe have both been linked with moves to Town. The spelling of their surnames indicates that there is no family link, but you can pretend they are brothers if you want. Joe Low is an out-of-contract central defender from Wycombe who is wanted by a number of League One clubs, including Town. Nathan Lowe is a Stoke footballer who had a successful loan spell at Walsall last season and is expected to be loaned out to one of the other League One clubs vying for his services.

If Nathan Lowe’s name seems familiar, he scored twice against Town for Walsall in the Car Dealership Cup last season. He also missed a penalty in that game, implying he’d be a good fit at Town. In all seriousness, he’d be a good signing for Town, even if he’s not the target guy we’re looking for.

Signing one or both of these Low(e) brothers would be Town’s statement of intent. Good players have a lot of suitors, and beating our divisional opponents to sought-after players sends a message that we’re putting together a good team to compete this season. It also makes future acquisitions simpler to persuade if they see that we are investing in our squad and are serious about pushing for promotion.

Antony Evans to Wigan

I’d be sad to see Evans leave because he didn’t perform well for Town in his first season, and I was hoping for more from him under Lee Grant. I won’t be too sad if he left, though, because his odd toe injury kept him back in the second half of the season, even when he returned to play. Duff mentioned that he was in continual discomfort while playing, and I noticed him suffering every time the ball struck his poor toe. Being a footballer who struggles to kick a ball is clearly suboptimal, thus I see why he suffered.

Excuses aside, Evans was involved in several of Town’s worst performances and never demonstrated why he was Bristol Rovers’ player of the season the year before. He appeared slow, his passing was unpredictable, and his results were frequently subpar. As the saying goes, there is a player in there someplace, but we have yet to see it. Perhaps he needs a fresh setting to perform at his best.

Sorba leaves for Stoke

One piece of concrete transfer news was Sorba Thomas’s move to Stoke for a “generous” amount. The necessity for the club to stress the size of the undisclosed price shows that we have Stoke’s pants down. But because they sold us Ramadan Sohbi, that would balance things out.

Sorba Thomas was superb on his day and played an important role in Carlos Corberan’s playoff run. He’s also stunk the place up with his bad attitude at times. Thomas was dropped after André Breitenreiter openly complained about the club’s toxic culture, therefore he was most likely part of the group that stunned the German with their unprofessional behavior.

Regardless of his shenanigans, I hope he succeeds at Stoke. I believe he can succeed in the correct atmosphere and if he applies himself. The fee is thought to be in the region of two million pounds, which, while generous, is reasonable for a Welsh international with a track record of scoring frequently at Championship level.
I said in my previous piece that Paudie O’Connor was connected with a move to Town, but it has now been revealed that Wycombe are the most probable bidder to recruit him. Following the potential loss of Fraser Horsfall to Blackpool, losing another excellent League One centre to a rival would be a blow.

There is a small pool of experienced defenders available for transfer and prepared to join an ambitious League One club. Given that we have no healthy central defenders (Balkers’ ailment is expected to last until the new season), we’ll need to bring some in shortly. Helik, Pearson, Lees, Turton, Ruffels, and Lonwijk left this year and have yet to be replaced. Even Ayina was let go, therefore the B Team’s most promising defender is now gone. Rebuilding our defense will be one of the most crucial tasks during this transfer window.

Owen Goodman on loan from Crystal Palace

Following a season on loan at AFC Wimbledon in the previous campaign, Crystal Palace appear to be shopping around their young goalkeeper, Owen Goodman. Town have been linked with him, but it’s difficult to understand how this makes sense. I would have expected him to be the first choice at any club where he went, but we already have Chapman and Nicholls.

If we do sign a loan goalkeeper, it means that neither Chapman nor Nicholls are considered first-choices for this season, and for Nicholls, it would almost certainly mean an exit. While Town have huge weaknesses in other areas of the game, it seems weird to pursue players for a position that appears to be in good shape. Chris Maxwell retired at the conclusion of last season, so we’ll need at least a third-choice keeper, although young Francis Hurl from the academy may be in the running if he has a successful preseason.

Paul McShane to join coaching team

Paul McShane, well known for his role as Ted Bovis in Hi Di Hi (kids may need to ask their parents for this reference), died in 2013, therefore it appears that Town will hire the most renowned living Paul McShane as Lee Grant’s assistant coach, along with a couple of others. I remember him best from his time with Sunderland, but he also played for Hull and Reading. Since retiring, he has been coaching and worked at Manchester United under Lee Grant a few years ago.

It’s difficult to form strong impressions about the new coaching staff, but it’s encouraging that Grant is permitted to bring in his own personnel. And, while Manchester United has struggled in recent years, I believe learning the coaching trade in that setting will be a valuable education, and his knowledge of how one of the world’s largest teams functions will undoubtedly help Town if he joins.

In his first interview, Lee Grant stated that he was very close to finalizing his coaching team, however this has yet to be confirmed. With that in mind, I believe we will receive confirmation from the club in the very near future.

Savage linked as Director of Football

Football Insider reported yesterday that Town are closing in on Joe Savage as Director of Football. I’ve never heard of him, but he’s a Sporting Director at Hearts and formerly worked as a chief scout for Preston North End and Norwich.

This isn’t the first time he’s been associated with the position at Town, but we’ve recently been said to be interested in Ross Wilson at Nottingham Forest. There appears to be a stumbling block impeding Wilson’s arrival in Town, thus Savage appears to be the best alternative. In recent interviews, Kevin Nagle stated that they were holding back since they hadn’t been blown away by the folks they’d spoken with thus far, but I’m sure he’ll retract that statement if Savage joins shortly.

It’s difficult to predict how someone in this role will turn out. Each club is unique, and it is difficult to replicate success from one location to another. Regardless, I believe it is appropriate to bring in someone to relieve part of Lee Grant’s workload. Even if Grant believes he can handle much of the wheeling and dealing, it’s best to delegate the phone calls to agents to someone else so Grant can focus on the training pitch.

I don’t like the concept of a head coach working under a director of football, but in our current scenario, I believe the Town job is too much for a first-time manager without someone to provide support and guidance above them.