Huddersfield Town must rue £12m transfer mistake along with these 4 others | OneFootball

We looked back at five Huddersfield Town transfer mistakes that the club will surely still regret to this day.

Huddersfield Town will be hoping to bounce back to the Championship at the first attempt this season.

It looked as though Huddersfield were a club heading in the right direction after winning a shock promotion to the Premier League in 2017, but their stay in the top flight lasted just two years, and they have failed to hit the same heights again since.

The Terriers did reach the Championship play-off final in the 2021-22 season, but they were beaten by Nottingham Forest at Wembley, and the departure of head coach Carlos Corberan that summer marked the start of a dramatic decline for the club.

After narrowly surviving in the second tier in the 2022-23 season, Town were unable to prevent relegation last term after another disastrous campaign, but they are currently among the promotion contenders in League One, so they will be aiming to make a swift return.

Poor managerial appointments were largely to blame for Huddersfield's demise, with Danny Schofield, Mark Fotheringham, Neil Warnock, Darren Moore and Andre Breitenreiter all coming and going in the two years since Corberan's exit.

However, the Terriers have also made their fair share of mistakes in the transfer market over the years, and we looked at five deals that the club may still be regretting to this day.

Alex Pritchard

Midfielder Alex Pritchard joined Huddersfield from Norwich City in January 2018 for a fee in the region of £12 million.

Given that Pritchard had starred for the Canaries in the Championship, many expected him to seamlessly make the step up to the Premier League, but while he did feature regularly in the top flight for the Terriers, he failed to impress with his performances.

Town supporters criticised Pritchard for his fitness record and his lack of commitment to the club, and after producing some incredibly disappointing numbers during his three-and-a-half year spell at the John Smith's Stadium, he was released at the end of his contract in the summer of 2021.

After his exit, Pritchard passionately hit back at claims from former Huddersfield chairman Dean Hoyle that the club overpaid for him, and his subsequent stint at Sunderland may have left the Terriers wondering why they never managed to get more out of the 31-year-old.

Adama Diakhaby

After unexpectedly surviving in their first year in the Premier League, Huddersfield signed winger Adama Diakhaby from French giants Monaco for a fee in the region of £9 million in the summer of 2018 as they looked to build on that impressive achievement.

Unfortunately, Diakhaby failed to make the impact the Terriers hoped he would, and he failed to score or provide an assist in 13 appearances during his debut season at the John Smith's Stadium as his side were relegated from the top flight.

After falling out of favour under Danny Cowley the following year in the Championship, he joined Nottingham Forest on loan in January 2020, but he did not fare much better at the City Ground.

Diakhaby was unable to regain his place in the Town team following his return, and having registered just four assists in 48 games for the West Yorkshire outfit, the 28-year-old returned to France when he made a permanent move to Amiens in February 2021.

Isaac Mbenza

Winger Isaac Mbenza joined Huddersfield on loan from

French side Montpellier in the summer of 2018, with the club having an obligation to make the deal permanent the following year for a fee of around £11 million.

Mbenza struggled to make his mark in the Premier League as the Terriers suffered relegation during his first season at the club, but he did at least provide one memorable moment as he scored an equaliser in a 1-1 draw at home to Manchester United in May 2019.

Like Diakhaby, Mbenza also found his game time limited in the Championship under Cowley, and he spent the second half of the 2019-20 season on loan at Amiens.

Mbenza was handed a second chance at the John Smith's Stadium after Corberan's appointment, and he did improve under the Spaniard, scoring five goals and registering seven assists in 37 games during the 2020-21 season, but his contract was terminated by mutual consent in September 2021.

Ramadan Sobhi

Winger Ramadan Sobhi made the move to Huddersfield from Stoke City in the summer of 2018 for a fee of £5.7 million.

Sobhi had failed to deliver consistently in the Premier League for the Potters during his two-year spell at the bet365 Stadium, so he was a risky signing for the Terriers, but head coach David Wagner would have hoped that he could get the best out of the Egypt international.

While injuries did not help Sobhi to settle at the John Smith's Stadium, he made just four substitute appearances for Town, failing to register a goal or assist during that time, before being loaned out to former club Al Ahly in December 2018.

After spending a total of 18 months on loan at Al Ahly, Sobhi's frustrating spell at Huddersfield came to an end when he joined Pyramids FC on a permanent basis in the summer of 2020.

Florian Kamberi

Thankfully for Huddersfield, striker Florian Kamberi was not quite as costly as some of the other players on this list, but he was just as much of a transfer flop.

After being released by Swiss side Winterthur, Kamberi arrived at the John Smith's Stadium on a free transfer in January 2023, and having worked with the 29-year-old during his time as assistant manager of German outfit Karlsruher, Fotheringham insisted he could help the Terriers in their battle against relegation from the Championship.

However, Kamberi had scored just five goals in 27 appearances during his loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday in League One the previous season, so Town supporters understandably did not quite share Fotheringham's confidence that he would be a success in the second tier.

Kamberi scored on his debut for the Terriers in a 3-1 defeat at Preston North End in the FA Cup, but he made just one further substitute appearance after that, and he did not feature in a single matchday squad after Warnock replaced Fotheringham in February.