Huddersfield Town can find Leo Castledine 2.0 at Charlton Athletic | OneFootball

Huddersfield should be looking at a former 14-goal attacking midfielder who has struggled for game time at Charlton Athletic this season

Huddersfield Town had their worst January transfer window nightmare realised when Leo Castledine was recalled by Chelsea and sold to Championship side Middlesbrough.

The 20-year-old was in the midst of a breakout season in West Yorkshire and was the driving force in the run that propelled Lee Grant's side into the League One play-offs over the December and early January schedule.

In his last 10 league games, Castledine scored eight and assisted once. He failed to contribute to a goal only twice in that run and helped Huddersfield go seven games unbeaten before he left.

Evidently, he has clear Championship quality, but the Terriers were hopeful that they could at least keep him until the end of the current campaign, and maybe bring him in permanently with them in the second tier in 2026/27.

Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed, and Castledine earned his Championship move to promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough in a deal initially worth less than £1 million.

It was a massive gut punch for Lee Grant's side, made even worse by their late defeat at Stockport County, where his absence was felt, and the Terriers failed to score for the first time in the league since late October.

However, they can't afford to lick their wounds for too long. They need to bring a replacement in soon, and Harvey Knibbs could be their answer.

Harvey Knibbs hasn't been a starter in Nathan Jones' Charlton Athletic side this season

Charlton Athletic had an impressive summer transfer window, bringing in a plethora of talent from League One who Nathan Jones felt could make that step up.

The likes of Rob Apter, Sonny Carey, Tanto Oloafe, Charlie Kelman, and Harvey Knibbs played in the third tier last year, and the majority have played a part in ensuring the Addicks remain competitive in their first Championship season since the 2019/20 campaign.

However, despite Knibbs playing in all but three second-tier games thus far since he made the £1.8 million switch from Reading in the summer, he arguably requires more game time.

The 26-year-old was the hero on the opening day for Charlton, scoring late on off the bench to ensure a 1-0 win against Watford on their Championship return, but that didn't reward him with a start.

In fact, Knibbs would have to wait until the 12th game of the season before he was in the starting eleven in a second-tier fixture, and that's one of just four starts he's made in the Championship so far this season.

Despite this, though, the former Reading man has three goals, which actually puts him third in the top scorers list at the club this season.

It's slightly baffling how he hasn't been afforded more time on the pitch, and League One sides, namely Huddersfield, should be poking their nose into Nathan Jones to see how available he is this January.

Harvey Knibbs would be a wonderful coup for Huddersfield Town — memories of Leo Castledine would be forgotten

There was a reason that Charlton turned to Knibbs this past summer, and that's because they felt that he could make the step-up to the Championship after excelling at Reading under difficult off-field circumstances in the previous couple of years.

Knibbs registered 17 goal contributions in his first season at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, and then upped that to 20 last year, with six assists to add to his 14 goals, one of which came in a 2-1 win over Huddersfield in September 2024.

The 26-year-old was always a consistent threat inside the opponent's area, and if Huddersfield are in the market for a box-crashing attacking midfielder to play behind a couple of strikers, Knibbs could be exactly what they need.

The Terriers have lost a little bit of the momentum they had after Castledine left, and with it, their seven-game unbeaten run. If they don't figure out how to regain that good form, they'll begin to slide back out of the play-offs.

Therefore, Lee Grant should be looking to plug that gap left by the 20-year-old immediately, and, with Knibbs' scoring record in previous years, plus his striking ventures in limited time this season, the 26-year-old would be the perfect replacement for the new Middlesbrough man.