Pick of the bunch from Town’s foreign legion
HOW AN OVERSEAS XI COULD LOOK AT THE JOHN SMITH’S
WE all know the Premier League is a global enterprise and its players are drawn from all corners of the world.
Many Championship clubs have increasingly shopped in the international markets too and Town, under David Wagner’s leadership, made a series of astute signings.
Let’s not forget how European the Terriers’ 2017 play-off winning team were. Apart from the loanee Welshman Danny Ward in goal they only had two Englishman, Tommy Smith and Jonathan Hogg, as regulars. Loanees Kasey Palmer and Izzy Brown were supplemented by occasional Martin Cranie appearances but otherwise all the regular places were taken by foreign players.
If we were trying to select an alltime foreign Town team then Wagner would be the obvious choice as manager.
Choosing the goalkeeper would come down to a straight choice between the Belgian Nico Vaesen or the great Dane Jonas Lossl. Vaesen never played for Town in the top division but bounced back well after being sent off on his debut in 1999.
One full-back would definitely be Chris Lowe, no arguments or discussion required.
The other would probably have to be the Canadian Kevin Sharp because the Terriers have had few full-backs from overseas. No one was ever convinced by the Aussie Jason Davidson. Sharp, on the other hand, did play for England Under-18s and does now act as agent for Leeds star Kalvin Phillips – two reasons a diehard Town fan might not select him.
In central defence two recent Germans would have a good shout. Christopher Schindler and Michael Hefele were a useful partnership, although Efe Sodje of Nigeria would have a best bandana claim. He and Hefele have a lot in common – some sublime crowd-pleasing moments followed by schoolboy errors, yellow cards, fist pumping and smiles.
It would be interesting to see captain marvel Schindler try and control Sodje, who had more clubs than Rory McIlroy. He also player in the 2002 World Cup before more recently serving time for fraud at Her Majesty’s Pleasure.
At centre-back Ken Monkou (from the Dutch-speaking former colony, Suriname) might have made the cut but his elegant stay was too brief and injury-ravaged. Jon Gorenc Stankovic, of Slovenia, and Zanka, another Dane, would enter the discussion.
Americans Duane Holmes and John Thorrington could bring some dash to the midfield whereas the Dutchman Rajiv Van la Parra would undoubtedly offer something unexpected.
Or the midfield could see freestyle competitive hairstyling between Neil Danns (Guyana), the tall (if not great) Dane Phil Billing and the multi-coloured corn-rows of Junior Bacuna (Curacao).
Dean Gorre proved a dynamic, clever and persistently appreciated presence in midfield when Steve Bruce’s side narrowly fell short of qualifying for the Championship play-offs two decades ago.
Joey Gudjonsson from Iceland showed some silky touches in 2011 but fell out of favour with Lee Clark and didn’t last long. The early appearances of Adnan Ahmed showed bite and ambition but his time with Town was short too.
Croatian midfielder Ivan Paurevic was another who came and went without anyone, apart from the club historians and accountants, noticing.
On the wing you would not want to see Town’s solitary Greek signing, Giorgos Donis. He was the greatest single waste of money until the recent drainage of funds on Adama
Diakhaby and Isaac Mbenza.
The elusive Ramadan Sobhi, from Egypt, has a been a very rare sighting for Town fans. You would surely much rather see the whole-hearted Malvin Kamara (from Sierra Leone) or the magical Peter Ndlovu from Zimbabwe flying down the wing.
One certain midfield pick would be Aaron Mooy.
Up front Town would be spoilt for choice though it would be difficult to look beyond Clyde Wijnhard (Suriname) or the Bermudan Nahki Wells. Unless, that is, you fancied the refined polish of Pawel Abbott, the hit and miss uncertainty that epitomised the Jamaican Theo Robinson, the wholehearted endeavour of Laurent Depoitre or Benin international Steve Mounie.
From the current squad Elias Kachunga (DR Congo) and Florent Hadergjonaj (Kosovo) might make the bench.
You know you are short of defensive cover when you are fearing the error-prone Jamaican Frank Sinclair might be a game changer but not in a good way. He would sit comfortably with Kwami Hodouto, who hailed from Togo but managed only 38 abysmal minutes of his home debut under Bruce in 1999 before he was withdrawn and never seen again.
Jonas Lossl, Chris Lowe, Christopher Schindler, Michael Hefele, Kevin Sharp, Phil Billing, Dean Gorre, Aaron Mooy, Nahki Wells, Rajiv van La Parra, Steve Mounie.