David Wagner was "totally comfortable" breaking Huddersfield Town club-record transfer fee - his faith was repaid | OneFootball

Huddersfield broke their transfer record to sign 1860 Munich defender Christopher Schindler in 2016. He went on to more than repay the £1.8m fee.

In the summer of 2016, Huddersfield Town built a squad that would go on to reach the top flight for the first time since 1972 under David Wagner.

With the likes of Aaron Mooy, Danny Ward, Kasey Palmer and Izzy Brown arriving on loan, the Terriers had a squad packed with young talent from the Premier League.

However, alongside fellow recruits from Wagner's native Germany, it was Christopher Schindler who went on to arguably become the deal of the summer.

As Town broke their transfer record to bring the defender in for £1.8 million, Schindler arrived from 1860 Munich, a side drifting between the second and third tiers of German football, and he went on to not just achieve the impossible with Huddersfield but also do so by becoming a club legend along the way.

Swapping the Allianz Arena, where the Lions played their football at the time, for the John Smiths Stadium, Schindler became a modern Huddersfield icon, while his manager was "totally comfortable" breaking the Terriers' transfer record to bring the defender in.

Wagner was "totally comfortable" with Schindler signing

Arriving from Bavaria for a fee understood to be sitting at around £1.8 million, not even the most die-hard Town supporters could have predicted what was to come after a period of consolidating in the Championship following promotion from League One in 2012.

The then-26-year-old came through the academy of his local side and played over 200 games for the Lions. Speaking at the time, head coach David Wagner was keen to address just how excited he was about the signing: "He is good in the aerial challenge and is a very composed player, who is great at reading the game.

"A big part of our decision to allow Joel Lynch to join Queens Park Rangers was the availability of Christopher. I am totally comfortable breaking the club's transfer record to bring him here."

A fulcrum of Wagner's back-line and imperative to the high-intensity high-line that he would implement during his time in West Yorkshire.

Huddersfield had finished 19th in the Championship the year prior, conceding 70 goals in the process. Once Schindler and fellow signings arrived, they went on to finish fifth, conceding 12 goals fewer than the year before.

The standout individual performances of that season from a Huddersfield perspective perhaps came when it mattered most and were delivered by Schindler as he marshalled their back-line to play-off victories against Sheffield Wednesday and Reading in the semi-finals and final respectively, with both victories coming via a penalty shootout, having conceded just one goal in those three crunch clashes.

And Schindler himself was the man with the all-important moment, slotting a penalty into the bottom left corner as Huddersfield reached the top flight.

Christopher Schindler left as a Huddersfield legend

Schindler went on to play 74 matches across Huddersfield's two Premier League seasons and remained at the club following their relegation.

He returned to Bavaria in 2021, playing for 2. Bundesliga outfit Nürnberg before retiring from professional football in 2024 at 34 years of age.

What was a record fee for Huddersfield at the time turned out to be one of the best pieces of business in the club's history, with Schindler not just sending the Terriers to the top flight for the first time in the Premier League era, but being an incredible leader at the back as Town secured their top flight status for another season in 2018.

The Munich-born defender completely repaid the faith placed in him by Wagner and goes down as a modern-day Huddersfield legend.