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Matty Pearson, What to Expect

Huddersfield Town have completed the signing of 27-year-old centre back Matty Pearson on a three year deal with an option of a further year. The right-footed defender will join on the 1st July 2021, upon the expiry of his deal at Luton Town.
When I first saw we were linked with him, I have to admit I had no clue who he was, but I think that says a lot about him. He is someone that likes to get the job done and goes under the radar, because from what I have seen from looking into him, I would suggest that Town have pulled off a real coup for their first signing of the summer.

His Career so far

Pearson is a product of Blackburn's academy, although Matty had to go the hard route to make it as a professional. At the end of his first pro contract at Blackburn, he was released and joined Non-League Halifax Town, before moves to Accrington, Barnsley and most recently Luton Town. He has made 390 career appearances to date, scoring 28 goals. He operates primarily as a centre back, but can also play right-back, left-back, central midfield and central defensive midfield.
Matty is no novice when it comes to the Championship, the West Yorkshire born player has played three seasons at this level for Barnsley and Luton. He will be 28 come the start of next season, so for Town to get such an experienced player in his prime is great to see.

What to expect

As mentioned before, Matty is a versatile player, but it is expected that he will be used in the right of a back three, right of a central two or as a right back. Pearson is a defensive-minded player, as he mentioned in his interview with HTTV, so he could be an alternative to Pipa at right-back in games where Town want more defensive solidity.
I don't want to bring on false expectations of Town's new signing, but I think he is quite a similar type of player to Christopher Schindler, Matty is 1.9m tall, 1cm taller than Chris and has Town's ex-skipper's gritty defensive mindset, so will add much-needed height in defence and is an excellent header of the ball, he wins 2.8 aerial duels per game, which is definitely an area where Town needed to strengthen this summer.
Last season Pearson made 40 appearances, averaged 1.8 tackles per game, 1.6 interceptions, 3.1 clearances and 0.6 blocks. He averaged a rating of 6.74 according to Whosored, which ranked him 5th highest in the Luton squad and would have ranked him 6th in the Town squad, 1 rank below Christopher Schindler. He made three appearances as skipper for the Hatters last season as Luton finished 12th on 62 points.
For all the positives about Pearson, I think it is right to be balanced and also talk about his downsides. His passing needs to improve to play in Town's style of play. He averaged an accuracy of 64% last season, which is 20% lower than Keogh and Schindler and 15% lower than Stearman and Sarr. I think this is about his only flaw though as apart from his passing, his technical statistics sit in line with Huddersfield Town players.
He is also a threat in the opposition box, Pearson managed 2 goals last season, with his season-best total being 9 goals for Accrington in League 2. So even if he does have the odd mistake in him like Sarr does, at least he is compensating at the other end.

The Verdict.

Matty won't set the world alight, but he looks like a really solid addition. Even though he is joining on a free transfer, I think it is a really smart deal by Town and is a great value deal for the club. I think he is hard-working defender who knows what you have to go through to make it to where you are - an experience some players in the Town squad haven't had to do. He might need to work on his passing but his defensive attributes should add a lot of stability and in turn allow players like Rarmani Edmonds-Green and the full backs to be more expansive.
He'll be 28 at the start of next season so he will have experience and still have the physical attributes, something that Richard Keogh, Richard Stearman and Tommy Elphick didn't have.
I really like this deal and it sets a strong base for the rest of the window. If the 4 other free agents Town are signing are of this quality, then I think Town are setting the foundations for a successful season.