How Joe Low feels about Leo Castledine, Huddersfield Town exit talk | OneFootball

Leo Castledine's Huddersfield Town hangs very much in the balance ahead of the January transfer window

Huddersfield Town defender Joe Low has issued a defiant three-word message involving the future of on-loan star Leo Castledine, who could be set for a premature departure from the Accu Stadium once the January transfer window opens next month.

Widely-tipped as pre-season title favourites, the Terriers have struggled to get going on a consistent basis under head coach Lee Grant but are now beginning to show signs of establishing themselves in the promotion conversation as we head towards the second-half of the 2025/26 League One campaign.

Huddersfield are unbeaten in their last four outings and have won the last two, claiming 3-1 and 5-0 victories over Rotherham United and Port Vale respectively to move up to seventh in the league table — just three points shy of fourth-placed Bolton Wanderers.

Castledine has emerged as a driving force behind Huddersfield's upturn in form, with the playmaker continuing to make a dazzling impression in West Yorkshire following his summer loan arrival from Chelsea.

The 20-year-old midfielder took his goalscoring tally for the campaign up to 11, from just 24 appearances across all competitions, with a brace in yesterday's rout of the Valiants, having also found the back of the net in fixtures against Rotherham, Northampton Town and league leaders Cardiff City throughout December.

It's perhaps little surprise, then, that Castledine is collecting no shortage of attention ahead of the January window, and a recent report from the Mirror has claimed that a number of unnamed Championship clubs are plotting a permanent transfer swoop amid Chelsea's openness to cashing in on his much-sought-after services.

How Joe Low feels about Huddersfield Town, Leo Castledine exit talk

Castledine has established himself as something of a star man at Huddersfield, and both teammates and supporters alike — and Grant, of course — will all share the desperation to retain the attacking midfielder until the end of the season.

Following the 5-0 win over Port Vale, in which Castledine opened the scoring after just five minutes before netting his side's fifth and final goal of the afternoon, the highly-rated Cobham academy graduate took to social media to address Town supporters.

However, hinting at the recent transfer speculation, teammate Low was quick to respond with a defiant three-word message epitomising how just about every Huddersfield supporter feels about Castledine's future right now.

The defender simply responded: "Lock him up."

Unsurprisingly, a number of Terriers fans engaged with Low's comment, urging the Welshman to prevent Castledine from departing the club mid-season.

Benji Walker (@benjiwalkerphoto)

Just whether Huddersfield will be able to convince Castledine — or Chelsea themselves — to defer any action from January 1 onwards, however, only remains to be seen.

Leo Castledine exit would be a huge Huddersfield Town transfer blow

Huddersfield are finally establishing a run of consistent form in League One, so to lose Castledine at this moment in time would represent a colossal blow for the club's ambitions of returning to the Championship this term.

With nine goals and one assist from 20 league outings, the on-loan Chelsea youngster is, quite visibly, operating at a couple of classes above English football's third-tier and has warranted an opportunity at Championship level, although Huddersfield have the counter-argument of having offered a stable and beneficial environment for his development, which has come on leaps and bounds since his switch up north.

They will ultimately be aware that such a factor may not be enough to make Chelsea ignore a potential cash windfall on offer, and then that begs the question as to whether Town could plot an extremely-ambitious permanent proposal themselves — should their pockets be deep enough to do so.

Huddersfield must fight tooth and nail to avoid losing Castledine, who possesses the goalscoring quality from midfield to fire them further up the table and potentially all the way back to the Championship, and Grant's side need to do whatever it takes to keep him exactly where he is.