Food For Thought – Why Andy Yiadom Would Be A Good Signing For Huddersfield
Andy Yiadom is close to completing a move to Premier League new boys Huddersfield Town but, is the Barnsley man the right player for the club?
The slightly strange element to this is that the Terriers already have Tom Smith on their books, arguably the best right-back in the league last season and especially good going forward. Yiadom is himself a right-back and so it seems like a touch of overkill.
However, in signing Yiadom, boss David Wagner could simply be expressing his wish to have two players for every position who he believes are good enough to play in the Premier League and on that score, this is a very good move indeed.
Yiadom is really going places and would superbly complement the attacking style of Scott Malone, who was recently signed from Fulham, at left-back, to give Huddersfield a real balance going forward, even if Smith is out of the side. The London-born full-back can only improve over the next couple of years too, meaning that the reported £3million fee could look like great value.
Wagner has been particularly wise in bringing in someone who may have gone on to be one of the hottest defensive properties in the Championship this season. True, Yiadom will now have to wait for his chance in the first-team unlike at Barnsley, but there is a world of difference between being the first-choice at Oakwell and playing against the likes of Man City and Liverpool.
Losing Smith for any extended period of time is not something that Huddersfield will want to think about, but it could happen. The lack of a contingency plan for such eventualities would be a very amateur thing indeed.
Wagner though, has done plenty to ensure that nothing is being left to chance and that, within his tight budget of course. The squad is in great shape going into their maiden Premier League season.
Andy Yiadom, once his signature is on the dotted line, will become Huddersfield’s eleventh signing of the summer and so nobody can claim that the Yorkshire club have dragged their feet or shown a willingness to take the Premier League riches for a year and then take their leave.
If possible, the Terriers want to be around for a while and with the weakness of the likes of Watford evidence, who is to say that they can’t stay up beyond next May?