Huddersfield Town v Bolton Wanderers: Whose squad has the biggest market value - Steven Schumacher must fix big problem | OneFootball

The Terriers host the Trotters in a midweek League One clash – here’s how the two squads compare

Huddersfield Town host Bolton Wanderers at the Accu Stadium on Thursday in League One.

As two promotion hopefuls, neither side has got off to the start they would have wanted, and they are heading into the fixture outside the play-off places.

Moreover, both sides are looking to bounce back from losses in their last games, making this an interesting meeting.

Let’s take a look at how the two squads compare, and a particular issue that Bolton boss Steven Schumacher will want to fix in this game.

Huddersfield Town and Bolton Wanderers squad values compared

There’s often an interesting debate before and after games about who has the better squad and, although it’s not an exact science, the estimated market values provided by Transfermarkt give us an idea of where each club roughly sits.

The website does this by assigning a value to each player, based on what they may be worth right now, and then adding those estimates together to see what the entire squad might be worth.

For Bolton, that figure comes in at €18.23m, whereas the Terriers have an estimated squad value of €19.90m.

Given that Huddersfield have two fewer players than Bolton listed in their first-team squad on the site, it’s clear that the Terriers are likely carrying the most expensive team of the two.

The two sides sit in third and fourth in the table of most expensive League One squads calculated by this metric, with both dwarfed by Cardiff City (€31.78m) and Luton Town (€46.73m).

Bolton’s most valuable players, as may be expected for a team at that level, are loan players from higher divisions.

Striker Marcus Forss tops the list for Bolton. The Middlesbrough loanee is projected to be worth €2.2m on the market, and while he has netted two goals in six appearances, they both came in a 4-1 beating of Wigan Athletic, so Trotters fans may still be waiting to see his full potential.

Amario Cozier-Duberry is just behind at an estimated €2m, and that will ring much truer, with the England youth international having registered six goal involvements in 12 League One outings; the kind of player you could imagine being the difference in Thursday night’s game.

For Huddersfield, midfielder Ben Wiles is by far the most valuable player based on these estimates, although at €2m he falls slightly short of Forss.

A regular starter, with two goals and an assist from his central berth and over 300 games in the Championship and League One at just 26 years old, he brings dependability and experience that will certainly be needed against Bolton.

Bolton Wanderers have a big issue they can fix against Huddersfield Town

In terms of squad value, then, Bolton and Huddersfield enter Thursday’s clash on a relatively similar level, but the Trotters have a specific disadvantage Schumacher will be looking to overcome.

Bolton are yet to win an away game this season, with all four of the victories they currently have to their name coming at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.

They’ve drawn three and lost three of their six games on the road so far. Only Blackpool, with six away losses from six, have a worse record.

If Huddersfield and Bolton’s comparative market values give the latter confidence heading into Thursday’s game, then their tough away record will certainly cool expectations.

It’s a record that, if Bolton are to have any hopes of being a promotion contender this season, they need to correct, and quickly.