Tough decisions in the most difficult window
DANNY Cowley has Town’s return to Championship action against Wigan Athletic at the forefront of his mind right now.
Town are just three points above the second-tier drop zone as they take on their fellow relegation rivals at an empty John Smith’s Stadium tomorrow.
Cowley is confident Town have made the most of training during the lockdown and are fully prepared to hit the ground running – even though there won’t be any fans present to roar them along.
It’s important they do, because Wigan can leapfrog the Terriers with a win and they arrive in West Yorkshire unbeaten in their past six league outings.
While match action is the priority over the coming month, Cowley also has some key decisions to make over his crop of out-of-contract players.
All the current terms – both permanent and loan – run until the end of this month, apart from for Andy King, who has committed for the remaining nine games before he leaves Leicester City after a 16-year association.
In addition to the six current loan players, Cowley has eight senior squad members to make immediate decisions on.
Town often write an option into contracts where the club can extend for a further 12 months, and that’s the case with the majority of those players coming to the end of their terms this month.
Here’s a list of those eight players and what we think may happen:
He has a chance to make an impression after finally recovering from a hip injury that has kept him out since August, and he has been back on the bench.
But popular as he is with sections of support, we can’t see him getting a new deal as it stands.
Another tricky one, but again we would be minded to thank him for his efforts - Town desperately needed him when he arrived - and allow him to find a new club and look for a younger Harry Toffolo equivalent to play on that right flank.
He is still only 21 and could have a bright future given a run of first-team games. We would expect the extra year to be triggered at least and probably more, as Danny Cowley has spoken about how impressive Duhaney has been in training since the lockdown.
Looked good for a spell when he first came into the team alongside Christopher Schindler but struggled against Stoke and subsequently lost his place to the newly-arrived Richard Stearman.
We would expect the option to be triggered, but there is plenty of competition. He’s only just turned 24, which as a centre-back means his best years are still ahead of him, while Stearman and Tommy Elphick will both turn 33 early next season.
Has been a good servant to the club but Chris Willock has demonstrated that there are other wingers out there who can offer more. Has had some great times with Town, but maybe it’s time for a parting of the ways in the post-Covid scenario.
Decent enough back-up, but the fact Town went looking for another senior goalkeeper when Kamil Grabara got injured suggests he won’t ever be more than that.
At 24 we would not be surprised if he wanted to go and get first-team football elsewhere.
Definitely keep, especially in light of what head of goalkeeping Paul Clements has had to say about himall indications are that he is a future Town first-choice goalkeeper.
We would even go so far as to say a whole new multi-year deal might be more appropriate than merely triggering the extra year.
May get an extended chance with financial issues biting.
When Danny Cowley recalled him from loan at Rochdale he said it was with a view to taking a close look at this attacking option, and he did feature off the bench at Fulham.