Lee Grant will want to repeat Ipswich midfield trick at Huddersfield Town | OneFootball

Huddersfield Town fans will be hoping that Ben Wiles and Ryan Ledson can emulate the success of Samy Morsy and Massimo Luongo at Ipswich Town.

Following the appointment of Lee Grant as Huddersfield Town’s new manager, Terriers supporters, as well as Grant himself, will be hoping that he can emulate the success he helped Ipswich Town achieve in recent seasons.

The former Manchester United goalkeeper became Kieran McKenna’s first-team coach at Ipswich in May 2022, and he helped the Tractor Boys gain back-to-back automatic promotions from League One to the Premier League.

Just to what extent Grant influenced Ipswich’s rise through the divisions remains to be seen, but there is hope that the 42-year-old, embarking upon his first managerial role, has a very high ceiling as a coach.

Huddersfield supporters will look back at that Ipswich side to see what may transpire at the John Smith’s Stadium next season – and one area whereby there is a potential recreation of success would be in midfield, with new signing Ryan Ledson perhaps able to compliment Ben Wiles in the same way that Samy Morsy and Massimo Luongo created a dominant midfield partnership.

Ryan Ledson & Ben Wiles could be Huddersfield Town equivalent of Ipswich Town's Sam Morsy & Massimo Luongo

Huddersfield have recently confirmed their first signing of the summer with the arrival of former Everton midfielder Ledson on a free transfer, following his departure from Preston North End.

Reportedly beating off the likes of Hibernian and Bolton Wanderers to his signature, Ledson represents something of a coup for Huddersfield as they seek to forget their poor tenth-place finish in League One last season.

Ipswich’s success in recent seasons has in large part been down to the excellent partnership of Morsy and Luongo, who were put together mid-way through their League One promotion-winning campaign.

Egypt international Morsy is someone known for his leadership skills and ability to almost be a manager on the pitch, driving standards from the centre of the park, whilst Luongo, who is also hard-working, provided a creative balance, able to move forward and into the final third.

Ledson himself is someone in the mold of Morsy, more of a defensive midfielder, who often captained North End, whilst Wiles, who joined from Rotherham United in August 2023 and is more of a box-to-box, more attacking midfielder.

As Town potentially shift to a 4-2-3-1 system, it could well be that Ledson and Wiles form a partnership similar to that of Morsy and Luongo, in terms of the way in which their profiles compliment each other.

At the time, too, Morsy had dropped into League One, having been sold by Middlesbrough in 2021, whilst Luongo had been released by Boro in September 2022, so there doesn’t appear to be, at least on paper, too much between the players in terms of quality as Grant begins his reign.

Huddersfield Town have a good foundation to build on for Lee Grant - Ryan Ledson signing is proof of that

Ledson’s leadership capabilities will likely see him become a guaranteed starter for Huddersfield in the 2025/26 campaign, and he will be tasked with driving the team from midfield.

Wiles, on the other hand, notched eight goals and provided five assists for Town last season, but someone with another gear to go to in League One, having yet to really fulfill his potential at the club.

With the likes of Joe Taylor and Dion Charles arriving in January, Huddersfield have a squad that would appear more suited to a proactive and attacking style of football, which is in contrast to what Michael Duff tried to implement for much of last season.

If Grant is to be able to play that more front foot and aggressive style, it could well be down to the potential midfield partnership of Ledson and Wiles, likely in a 4-2-3-1 shape, which was the case with Luongo and Morsy at Ipswich.

Ledson and Wiles appear to be the perfect balance and foundation for Grant to implement his style of football – and the coach has first-hand experience of that sort of profile of midfield achieving extraordinary success in both League One and the Championship.