Five Current Huddersfield Town Players Who Could Make An Impact Next Season
Brady Frost, Feature Writer
Twitter: @brady0894
Transfer season is well underway but as fans ask for shiny new players, we look at who in the current squad can be a bright spark for Danny Schofield’s side in the 2022/23 campaign.
Well, that’s put a spanner in the works. With Danny Schofield now in charge following the shock resignation of Carlos Corberan and the season just three weeks away, it looks like a very different season for Huddersfield Town.
With several players having been released by the club either following their contracts expiring or returning to their parent club, there are a couple of areas that need to be addressed.
The transfer window is now open and The Terriers have made three additions so far, defender Will Boyle, midfielder David Kasumu and attacking player Connor Mahoney, who have joined on free transfers from Cheltenham Town, MK Dons and Millwall respectively. While we wait to see what happens with Lewis O’Brien and Harry Toffolo, it’s an opportunity to look at who can step up and make their claim under new management.
Sometimes it’s better to look at what you have already rather than read rumours until you’ve wound yourself up. So with that in mind, we look at five players on the fringes of the first team who can make an impact for the upcoming season.
Brodie Spencer
It’s a strange scenario to have a fully-fledged international in your B Team but Huddersfield has that in Brodie Spencer.
The Northern Ireland international and Academy Player of the Year is a versatile player who can operate at right-back, wing-back and centre-back in a three-man defence which bodes well for his chances, given the flexibility we saw in tactics last season by Carlos Corberan. If Schofield is seen to bring continuity to the team, we may well see several systems being used throughout the season too.
Although Spencer may not have experience of first-team football, he looks set to get a chance in pre-season to show if he can make the step up. Sometimes when a player you already have on the books hasn’t had first-team experience, it’s seen as more negative than having a youth player from a club on loan. This isn’t a comparison to Levi Colwill but when the Chelsea loanee joined at the start of the season, he hadn’t played first-team football and look at the impression he made with The Terriers. If Spencer shows half the promise from Colwill, then Huddersfield has a hell of a player on their hands.
Spencer has a chance to show what he can do with Naby Sarr and Colwill leaving Town short of centre-back options, and Pipa leaving just Ollie Turton as the only recognised right-back, he could force his way into the first-team squad if he impresses.
Josh Koroma
If you had told a Town fan during Carlos Corberan’s first season that next season we’d be in the play-off final and Josh Koroma is fit and available but out of the matchday squad, well you can insert your own punchline here.
Koroma showed his quality in short bursts last season, the goal against Blackpool away from home for example, but he didn’t show the consistency from his breakthrough season the previous campaign before injury cut it short.
The Town winger has a year remaining on his current deal with the club extending earlier in the summer and this feels like an important season for all parties involved. Play well and the club could try to tie him down to a new deal, risk losing him to a club for a small fee in January or nothing in the summer.
A fit and firing Josh Koroma is good news for everyone, so we’ll see what happens in this pivotal season for his Huddersfield Town career and with a new manager in charge, is this the time for a fresh start?
Rarmani Edmonds Green
Another defender on the list who looks set to fill the void left by Naby Sarr and Levi Colwill, it’s undoubtedly Edmonds-Green’s time to break into the squad properly. He had a spell in the Huddersfield Town first team during the 20/21 season, making 16 starts in 24 appearances but an impressive loan spell at Rotherham where he achieved promotion with the side means he deserves his chance to push on as a first-team regular with Town.
Last season in South Yorkshire, the 23-year-old made 28 league appearances as Rotherham finished 2nd, securing a place back in the Championship. Mainly playing as the right-sided centre-back in The Millers’ back three, he offers depth for Danny Schofield particularly if he’s replicating the tactics of previous boss Carlos Corberan, who played a back three and back four during Town’s respectable third-place finish.
It looks hard for Edmonds-Green to immediately replace the pairing of Pearson and Lees if a back four is the plan, however, he can provide useful backup if Town stays with a back four or provide a tactical shift as a useful sub to change formation if they opt to change to a back three mid-game.
Aaron Rowe
Aaron Rowe missed a chunk of last season due to injury but with a full pre-season behind him, Rowe must fancy his chances of making the matchday squad. The 21-year-old is another player on this list who’s capable of playing multiple positions, which bodes well for his inclusion in Schofield’s selection choices.
An 11-minute spell in the Boxing Day fixture against Blackpool was all we saw from Rowe in the league this season, but with time to work on the injury and the opportunity to get a run of matches in pre-season, he could show his talents from the 20/21 season once again.
Rowe, like some of the other players included in this list, could be one to benefit from a new man being in the dugout. He was handed his Premier League debut by Jan Siewert in 2019 when he was just 18 and has been included in matchday squads by Danny Cowley and Carlos Corberan, so there’s something about the winger that many Huddersfield Town coaches have liked, maybe Schofield’s the one to provide the platform for a breakthrough season.
Josh Ruffels
With the Harry Toffolo transfer rumours rumbling on, this feels like the time for Josh Ruffels to make his case for a starting spot. The left-back made just 8 league appearances last season but that wasn’t down to the player, it was the fact that he had to compete with arguably the best left-back in the division and one of the first names on Town’s teamsheet.
When Ruffels joined Town from Oxford United last summer, he finished the League One 20/21 season having notched up seven goals and six assists so it proves he can be just as attack-minded as Toffolo. It’s hard to follow in the footsteps of someone who was so crucial to The Terriers’ success last season but unlike the other players in this list, the 28-year-old is experienced having made over 300 appearances in his career so far.
If you’ll allow us some speculation when Ruffels initially joined it felt like it wasn’t only cover for Toffolo but perhaps a ready-made replacement for the attacking full-back who was reported to be interested by numerous clubs. A run of games and a chance to show what he can do in pre-season may persuade Danny Schofield to consider the left-back as part of his plans for the coming season, especially if Harry’s future continues to remain uncertain.
