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Huddersfield Town summer 24/25 transfer window review

04/09/2024

14 players out, 7 players in and the mass clear out that the majority of fans wanted after the Ipswich defeat didn’t quite happen. There was some good business, some great business, some poor business and some business that could have been better, in essence it was quintessentially League 1.

The Good.

Jack Rudoni out the door for £4-5 million, Sorba Thomas loaned out with a future fee that could be the same as Rudoni if he performs (Baring in mind that this is the same league that Town valued Adama Diakhaby and Isaac Mbenza at over £10 million). It is a good move for Thomas and I’m hoping that a chance in a top flight will give him the desire to want more out of football again, which has gone astray in recent seasons.

It is easy to understate the importance of keeping players after a window has shut when windows are primarily judged on who you sign and who you sell. Lee Nicholls, Michal Helik and Brodie Spencer could all have left in the summer, and Town have done well to keep hold of all three. Town needs to build a spine of players that are capable of playing at a higher level together. Nicholls has been the one that has started the season the best out of the three, Helik has looked a bit all over the place, the same with Spencer, but hopefully now we are out of the window, it should bring some more clarity for them.

Onto the arrivals, Lasse Sorensen and Mickel Miller are great pickups, they are a direct upgrade on what we had available last season at full back and have both shown promise so far. Antony Evans, Herbie Kane and Joe Hodge are all solid paper. Callum Marshall has looked hungry when he played so far and Nigel Lonwijk doesn’t looks like he has won a competition to play for us, unlike the last centre-back Town had on loan. There is a lot of good business done on paper, but is it enough to get Town back up to the Championship? It still feels a bit undercooked if I am honest.

It may be 2025 before Huddersfield have a complete clear out.

12 of the players who have played so far this season are out of contract at the end of this season, and that isn’t even considering the three players on loan for the season. I think it speaks volumes that Rudoni, Jackson, Jones, Simpson and Austerfield were the only players that Town were able to shift on permanently before their contracts expired. Town only released 5 players in July: Brahima Diarra, Yuta Nakayama, Connor Mahoney, Jordan Rhodes and Aaron Rowe. The fact Town were only able to get 10 players permanently off their books has what has predominantly hurt Town this season in the transfer market. There are at least 5 first team players whose contract is up in 2025, that I would happily have seen Town move on in the summer. The problem being that no one was either interested in them, or there wasn’t a proposal deemed good enough to the club. i.e. Hypothetically, there may have been interest in a 32 year old striker, but to get him a move to another club, could have still seen Town pick up part of his wage.

For all the money a blue team in the Midlands have spent, they were in a position where they had the luxury of not being tied down to any players they didn’t want. They had a number of first team players desired by other clubs and had a number of high earners out of contract. It is likely that Town will have to wait till next summer for the latter to be true for them.

Hogg’s contract renewal is getting stranger as weeks go on.

Hogg’s contribution to Huddersfield over the years is incredible and his service to the club is unprecedented in an era where players move around like people trading football cards. I felt that it was the right time for Hogg and Town to part ways at the end of last season, because I felt the drop to League 1 required a fresh start. Town have needed a Hogg replacement for years and in fairness to him, there hasn’t been a sharp decline in performance, but there has still been a gradual decline in hit fitness and playing ability.

If Town were to get promoted this season, does a 37 year old Hogg start in the Championship? He doesn’t, so I don’t understand the thought process behind starting him in 5 out of our 7 games this season. Even if Town don’t go up this season, the goal has to be to play a distinctive style of play with a set of key players in key positions that can be here for the next few seasons.

To me the renewal is the convenient option. I can get behind it if he is playing 1 in 3 games, or being used as a player to see a game out, but so far it is the same as every other season, where if Hogg is fit he starts.

There are games where Hogg should be starting, the opening day at Peterborough was a perfect example, he was solid and the right choice for the game. He is great for back’s against the ball, and exploiting quick turn overs, but when Town are the team that is dominating, he struggles and in my view it impacts the rest of the team. Against Morecombe, Town looked totally dominant in the first half and in reality that game could and should have been 5 or 6 nil up. We looked so much more fluid and creative while he wasn’t on. Iorpenda, Kane and Kasumu looked really balanced and granted it was against Morecombe, but I sit here after watching Town chuck away a 2 goal lead at Walsall, and make Doncaster look like a competent outfit.

Ironically, the only game I would have started him since Posh was Rotherham, and we lost, so what do I know anyway.

Some of you may be sat there thinking, this is a bit unfair and not right to be saying this about someone who has given so much for this club. Others may be saying that Kasumu and Kane have both missed the last few games with injury, and look, you are all right. I just can’t believe I am sat here again writing about yet another summer window of Town failing to recruit a long term Hogg successor.

The Striker Debate.

Alfie May and Joe Taylor were Town’s top striker transfer targets this summer and even though both were in the building, neither signed on the dotted line. There were clearly huge external factors that impacted both deals from going through. I think the Taylor deal was very unfortunate to not go through and judging by a lot of Luton fans synopsis of their window, they were furious with their own business, which in turn affected us.

The May deal, I think is less defensible of the two, the transfer saga dragged on way too long. Since Nagele has come in, Town have been very tight lipped with their transfer business, but this deal was public from the start. It was clear based on the journalist reporting on deal, that he was releasing information from the Charlton end, and Town should have been a lot more aggressive with them to be quiet. It is easy to look back in hindsight, but given we have got to the end of the window and Kevin Nagle has come out publicly stating that May and Taylor were the only two players that met our criteria, it is extremely poor that we let this deal slip.

From speaking to people not at Huddersfield, Town lost out on May because of how long the deal stretched out and the publicity surrounding it. The feeling at Birmingham was that May would not only fit them, but also weaken a promotion contender and be a backup if they missed out on their key target. Clearly they got that key target too.

To be clear, Town didn’t lose out on this deal because they didn’t match Birmingham’s wages - Matching those wages would have been a form of financial negligence. They lost it because of the length of time that they allowed the saga to go on for.

The issue has also been compounded by Town's striking options available vs Doncaster. Loaning out Kian Harratt and Kyle Hudlin, the fitness issues of Rhys Healey and Bojan Radulovic, then Callum Marshall and Josh Koroma with their involvement in their respective International setups. It only left Danny Ward (who himself has fitness issues) as a recognised senior striker, which is even more ludicrous when you look at the squad list and there are no other forwards and Town sold on deadline day the only remaining senior player who can play wide or up front (Pat Jones).

Summary

It feels wrong that I am going to grade this window based on performances so far this season, if Town had won all their games, I could have easily given them an 8, and even if they won their cup games, it may well have been a 7, but for me is hard to award over a 5. If I am grading how they have set their squad up for the season, it has serious frailties. Having 1 senior striker available is laughable, then having the same midfield 3 start every league game due to not having any fit alternatives. If Town want to be serious about promotion, they have to be on it every game, and I don’t think Town’s squad is capable of that currently . As I said before, Town have done some great stuff, they strengthened their full backs and kept Lee Nicholls, but it’s like celebrating that you connected two pieces of a 1000 piece puzzle together. Lastly I don’t feel like we have offloaded enough players, there are at least 5 players who I wanted us to move on, who we haven’t. My gut feeling is that we will struggle this year and we will only be able to truly revamp this squad next summer.