Popular German may still play big part
IT’S the worst kept secret in football – Town are almost certain to lose leading scorer Karlan Grant in the summer transfer window.
The club repelled a £15m bid in January for the 22-year-old, who
THERE is an under-the-radar Town player Danny Cowley believes could be a smiling assassin this season.
The Terriers boss has made no secret of the fact he likes to have German frontman Collin Quaner around the place.
It’s quite remarkable, really, is spearheading their bid for Championship survival with 16 goals to his name.
In the last window, chairman Phil Hodgkinson made it clear the club were determined to preserve second-tier status and that Grant was happy to stay and play his part.
A £2m arrival in January 2019, he because the 28-year-old former Union Berlin striker has never played for Cowley as he’s been recovering from hip surgery.
His two appearances this season came under former boss Jan Siewert – as a substitute in the opening Championship match of the season against Derby County, and in the 1-1 draw at QPR, when Town picked up their only point before Cowley has been a revelation with four Premier League goals to add to his tally this term.
West Brom were touted as potential suitors in January and now Fulham and Aston Villa are being mentioned as rivalling them for interest.
All three, of course, could be Premier League clubs next season.
Town boss Danny Cowley was prepared with a dossier of targets should Grant have moved on and was not prepared to let him go without a talented and suitable replacement in place.
“Over my dead body,” was his response to the possibility of Town selling him without a proper, off-the-peg striker coming in before the deadline.
Cowley, a keen student of all elements of the game, still has that list of replacements and will no doubt refer to it more closely as the season draws to a close – especially stepped into the John Smith’s Stadium on September 9.
Quaner is one of the players who is out of contract this summer, with the boss indicating he’s not going to make any decisions on the squad until Town know which division they will be playing in next season.
And the player who netted four goals on loan for Ipswich last season – when he was a Tractor Boys teammate with the vultures circling around Grant.
On Grant staying, Cowley told the Examiner at the time: “It was a huge offer and, rightly so, because Karlan is a top, top player who will go on to grace the Premier League in years to come – I have no doubt about that.
“We have to thank the chairman – luckily he is a supporter first and chairman second. I don’t think his bank manager was very pleased, but we were! “I thought it was a really intelligent decision because firstly Karlan had to want to stay, which he does and which is very important.
“Let’s be fair to the kid, there was a lot of interest from a lot of clubs who would pay him an awful lot of money, so credit to him that he was willing to stay and wanted to stay.
“Credit to the club, too, for staying strong, because we need our best players in this difficult moment,
Karlan is a top player who will go on
to grace the Premier League
of Chelsea loan man Trevoh Chalobah – could yet play a part in helping Town secure their Championship status for 2020-21.
Cowley put Quaner on the bench for the 4-0 home victory against Charlton Athletic before playing him for just over an hour in the EDT against Wigan, instead of having him on the bench again at Leeds.
He may not be lining up for the