When Stoke City pulled the wool over Huddersfield Town’s eyes with £5m transfer
Having surprisingly avoided relegation in the 2017/18 Premier League campaign, Huddersfield Town sought to establish themselves as a top-flight club the following season.
The Terriers, who had enjoyed a remarkable rise under the management of David Wagner in the previous couple of years, had the tricky task of trying to stick to the recruitment policy that had made them successful, whilst also bringing in players with potentially a higher ceiling and a bit more pedigree.
However, they went on to finish rock-bottom in the 2018/19 season with Wagner departing mid-way through the campaign, and they instead made quite a few mistakes in the transfer window.
One of the biggest blunders would have to have been the arrival of Ramadan Sobhi from Stoke City, who barely featured for a team desperate for an attacking spark.
The doomed signing of Sobhi
Ramadan Sobhi came through the academy at Africa’s most successful club, Al Ahly, before joining Stoke City in the summer of 2016, to much excitement with regards to what he could go on to become in England.
He showed glimpses of quality with an excellent ball-carrying ability from out-wide, whilst also occasionally making himself a presence in the box, albeit he managed just three goals in 46 appearances across all competitions in two seasons for the Potters.
The idea of giving him more playing time to further unlock his talent and potential, though, prompted the previously smart and shrewd Huddersfield to spend £5.7 million on the Giza-born attacker.
However, having made his debut off the bench in a 6-1 demolition at the hands of Manchester City, Sobhi’s start to life at the John Smith’s Stadium was blighted by injury, and he failed to even make a start for the club, making a further three substitute appearances before leaving in December.
He returned to Al Ahly on loan less than six months after the move to Yorkshire, and Egypt is where he remains to this day, now at Pyramids FC since 2020, having spent the whole of the 2019/20 campaign also on loan at Al Ahly.
Huddersfield’s regrettable and forgettable campaign
Sobhi hasn’t necessarily done much to suggest he could have fulfilled the potential that he had suggested to have had, albeit he was a part of the Pyramids side that recently won the CAF Champions League for the first time ever last month, defeating Mamelodi Sundowns over two legs in the final with Sobhi a key man for the Egyptians.
Huddersfield supporters, though, may well see his arrival as emblematic of the club drifting away from what had made them so impressive in the transfer market in previous campaigns.
They brought in nine permanent additions in the summer transfer window, as well as Isaac Mbenza on loan, but in truth completely regressed to the mean, having perhaps overachieved prior to the summer of 2018.
Now 28, Sobhi had his moments at Stoke but generally flattered to deceive – but that was more than he ever showed at Huddersfield, and he is now a forgotten man, despite the fairly significant outlay for him, in a forgettable campaign for Town.
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