Why offloading Reece James would make perfect sense for Huddersfield
According to Stroud News & Journal, out-of-favour Huddersfield Town playmaker Reece Brown has been deemed surplus to requirements by manager Danny Cowley, who has opened the door for the midfielder to seek an exit from West Yorkshire in January.
The 24-year-old only made his move to the John Smith’s Stadium from Forest Green Rovers this past summer but he currently finds himself down the pecking order after registering only a solitary first-team appearance for the Terriers so far.
Brown’s solitary involvement in Huddersfield’s first-team so far has come against Lincoln City in the EFL Cup, with the former League Two star yet to make his league bow for his new club.
Born in Dudley, West Midlands, Reece Brown rose through the youth ranks of Birmingham City and started his professional career with the Blues while also spending time on loan at Notts County and Chesterfield in the lower divisions.
The central midfielder carved out a big reputation for himself in League Two since his move to Forest Green Rovers in the summer of 2017.
Having endured a mediocre first season, Brown racked up as many as 11 goals and 15 assists for Rovers in the previous campaign, earning himself a place in the PFA League Two Team of the Year.
That paved the way for a coveted move to the second-tier with Huddersfield Town this past summer but things have hardly gone according to the script for Brown at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Completely frozen out of the first-team picture by Danny Cowley, Brown has even failed to make the matchday squads for the Championship games this season, with the manager preferring to rely on the likes of Lewis O’Brien, Juninho Bacuna and Alex Pritchard in the No.10 role behind the striker.
With Chelsea loanee Trevoh Chalobah establishing himself as a regular fixture in a central midfield role alongside veteran Jonathan Hogg, Brown’s versatility to play in a deeper role in the middle of the park hasn’t gone completely unnoticed.
According to Examiner Live, Cowley has suggested that he will look to clear the deadwood in the existing ranks to make way for fresh arrivals in January and Reece Brown is amongst those who could be sacrificed alongside the likes of Herbert Bockhorn and Issac Mbenza.
Meanwhile, the Terriers dropped down to 21st in the Championship standings following a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Leeds United in the West Yorkshire derby at the weekend.
Despite their mini-resurgence under Cowley, Huddersfield are still languishing in the bottom half of the table just a couple of points above the relegation zone, and they will need to improve on their current displays if they are to climb up the table and push on for a respectable mid-table finish.
Meagre returns of just 22 goals scored in 20 games clearly epitomize the need to bring in some attacking reinforcements in January, with top-scorer Karlan Grant clearly shouldering the bulk of the club’s goalscoring workload over the first half of the campaign.
To put things into perspective, Huddersfield Town need to make a call on the futures of several out-of-favour stars in the squad and offloading Reece Brown looks like a sensible decision in that regard as Cowley plans to trim his options.
Verdict
Brown had previously proven his worth as a good all-round midfielder with an eye for goal in League Two but getting rid of him won’t be a bad idea, considering that he is yet to show any positive signs of acclimatizing to the level of competition in the Championship.
That he has been deemed surplus to requirements doesn’t really come as a massive surprise given his restricted involvement in the first-team and the wide variety of options already available at Cowley’s disposal as far as the central midfield is concerned.
It is unclear from the report whether Huddersfield are trying to ship him out on loan or they are keen to get him off their books permanently during the mid-season trading period.
Either way, parting ways with him could be a fair settlement for both parties given that it doesn’t make sense for the Terriers to pay him the wages for doing next to nothing.
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Having said that, Huddersfield Town getting rid of Reece Brown in January certainly strikes the right chords as Cowley looks forward to a busy transfer window.