Huddersfield Town may not believe big Everton transfer update | OneFootball

Sorba Thomas' instant impact for Stoke City and links to the Premier League will be an almighty shock for Huddersfield Town fans to see.

It’s been a frustrating second season in League One for Huddersfield Town as their play-off hopes hang in the balance.

The Terriers currently sit ninth in the third tier with just seven games remaining of the campaign, but are just three points off a spot in the top six.

It’s been a term of chopping and changing for the Yorkshire outfit though, starting the season off with former Manchester United and Derby County shot-stopper Lee Grant, but he was dismissed in January following a four-game winless run, exiting after winning 17 of his 36 games in charge.

Since then, Liam Manning has entered the Huddersfield hotseat and hopes he can be the man to get the Terriers back to the Championship, but after a promising start to life under his guidance, his team are dropping off at one of the most critical stages of the season, failing to win any of their last three outings.

The slide needs to be addressed quickly if Huddersfield are to even have a chance of claiming a spot back in the second tier next season, with crucial back-to-back home games coming up against promotion rivals Cardiff City and Reading.

After failing to gain promotion back to the second tier and suffering another season of League One football, Huddersfield lost a lot of first-team assets as the club worked on revamping the squad for the challenges of a second term in the third tier.

The Terriers lost 15 players during the last summer transfer window, with winger Sorba Thomas on that list, moving back to the second tier with Stoke City.

At the time, Huddersfield supporters would have been delighted to see him depart, as the 27-year-old was plagued by inconsistency during his four-year spell at the club.

But now with Stoke, he’s been one of the standout Championship wingers this season, which could lead to him playing Premier League football next season, something the Terriers faithful could never have seen after his time in blue and white.

Sorba Thomas’s inconsistencies for Huddersfield Town

After coming through the youth ranks at Boreham Wood and having a promising five-season spell, playing at National League level, Huddersfield Town elected to take a punt on the Sorba Thomas in the Championship, bringing him to the Accu Stadium in the January transfer window of 2021.

It was a big step-up in class for Thomas, but the Terriers were convinced that he could make the leap and be an effective asset in the second tier.

Of course, arriving mid-way through a season and making a four-division jump, Thomas failed to add much during his opening few months as a Terriers player, making just seven appearances and failing to record an attacking contribution.

But heading into the following term, Thomas’ ability to get a pre-season under his belt and get to grips with their way of playing meant he was able to get amongst the goals and showcase his quality.

Thomas played all but three games in the 2021-22 season, notching three goals and 12 assists as Huddersfield reached the play-offs, going on to controversially lose to Nottingham Forest in the final at Wembley.

The 2022-23 season would present Huddersfield with different challenges as they meandered down towards the bottom end of the table. Thomas went on to feature 23 times in the first portion of the campaign, failing to score and only claiming six assists, eventually being loaned out to Blackburn Rovers for the rest of the term, linking up with a play-off chasing outfit instead of being involved in a relegation scrap.

Thomas would have to be in the midst of one in the 2023-24 term though as Huddersfield’s struggles towards the wrong end of the table continued.

But the Terriers failed to benefit from any spark in the final third from the Welshman, with a measly tally of four goals and nine assists from 41 matches condemning Huddersfield to League One football.

Of course, Thomas showed little interest of playing in the third tier and helping Huddersfield get back to the Championship, with the club sanctioning his loan exit to Ligue 1 outfit Nantes for the 2024-25 season, before the following term saw him make a permanent exit to the Potteries.

Apart from his first full season in blue and white, Thomas rarely produced the goods when needed to help Huddersfield get out of their lowest points, so the majority of the supporters would have been grinning from ear-to-ear to see the back of him and see him flatter to decieve at the Bet365 Stadium, but unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.

Sorba Thomas’s success at Stoke City and Premier League links

Huddersfield Town supporters will be left scratching their heads as to how a player who offered so little in the latter stages of his Terriers career has gone back into the Championship and been so productive.

But that’s exactly what Sorba Thomas has done, establishing himself as one of the standout attackers in the division, which has kept clubs in the top-flight on high alert.

In his debut term at the Bet365 Stadium, the Welsh international has been tremendous for both scoring and creating goals, getting into double figures for strikes, with 10, as well as notching 11 assists, as he has made himself the go-to player to change games.

To no surprise, he’s been a regular starter under Mark Robins on the left flank, and Stoke will be delighted that their investment on Thomas has been an unwavering success, although their resolve will be tested by Premier League clubs this summer.

As reported by the Daily Mail, Everton are among the clubs monitoring Thomas after receiving positive feedback on the 23-cap Welsh international from scouts who have watched him in action.

It’s unclear whether any other top-flight outfit holds an interest, but Bournemouth were linked with Thomas back in January following Antoine Semenyo's high-profile departure to Manchester City, so there looks set to be competition for his signature.

From Huddersfield’s perspective, it will be an almighty shock to see Thomas transform just 12 months on from his Terriers exit.

Of course, it was well-known that he was a huge talent, but his sheer inconsistencies in Yorkshire meant there were some doubts over whether he could handle it in the Championship, so to now see him take it by storm and have a move to the top-flight in the pipeline is beyond what many thought was possible.

Huddersfield supporters will look back and think about what went wrong for Thomas. Could it have been the system, the managers he played under or is it just a freak season for Stoke? Only time will tell.

But they will look over at Stoke with so much envy, with the Potters managing to profit off Thomas entering his prime and delivering the best goalscoring season of his career.

12 months ago, all connected with Huddersfield would have been laughing at Stoke for taking on a player who couldn’t string many consistent performances together, but the tables have fully turned, as they brace themselves to potentially to see their former player put his name up in lights on the biggest of footballing stages.