Corberan’s facing some back pains
SAY what you like about Huddersfield Town’s squad depth, but if there’s one area where they are well-stocked it is at centre-back.
The issue is four of those options are set to depart when their contracts expire at the end of this season, leaving Rarmani Edmonds-Green, Naby Sarr and Romoney Crichlow (subject to a new deal for him, too) as the only recognised central defenders with any Championship experience.
That gives Town an obvious starting point for their summer recruitment – but finding appropriate replacements may prove difficult.
Christopher Schindler, Richard Stearman, Tommy Elphick and Richard Keogh are four of Town’s most senior players whose departure could leave just Jonathan Hogg and maybe Fraizer Campbell as the side’s only over-30s.
They are all also natural leaders on and off the pitch, and that is not something you can easily replace.
Trying to come up with a list of experienced, high-quality, realistic, budget-friendly targets who tick all those boxes has proved next to impossible.
Finding a way around that is either going to take some leftfield thinking or a compromise in their criteria.
There are surprisingly few standout candidates when you look through the lists of other centre-backs who will be free agents this summer. Hull’s Jordy De Wijs looks an intriguing option, but QPR have confirmed they intend to turn their loan into a permanent deal.
James Chester would be a good shout if Stoke don’t want to give him a new contract. Or Michael Hefele will be leaving Nottingham Forest if Town want to continue their recent habit of picking up returning players, but he has played just 18 competitive games since leaving the Terriers three years ago.
Sheffield Wednesday’s Tom Lees has been a Championship skipper and has bags of experience at this level, but is also likely to come with pretty hefty salary demands. Likewise Bournemouth’s Steve Cook. But you would think if there were flexibility in that area then a new contract for Schindler would be preferable to a new arrival, and then we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.
If experience is an important factor, it’s possible Town could repeat the trick they pulled with Stearman in finding a frustrated experienced player sitting on a bench in the Premier League or in one of the Championship’s more bloated squads, but who that might be is anyone’s guess.
The other alternative would be to take a punt on a promising young up-and-comer who has proven themselves ready to play at this level. Josh Knight, 23, has done well in a poor Wycombe side and is out of contract at Leicester this summer.
Jake Clarke-Salter has been on loan at Birmingham this season and it is thought Chelsea would be open to offers in the low millions if Town could find the budget for that.
Tottenham’s Cameron CarterVickers will be available as a free agent.
Or there’s the loan market. Arsenal’s Mark McGuinness has fallen out of favour at loan club Ipswich Town since Paul Cook took over, but his stats mark the 20-year-old out as one of the best young ball-playing defenders in the EFL and he appears ready to test himself at a higher level than the top end of League One.