Where Huddersfield Town look good ahead of new season

A new signing who could capture the imagination, the prospect of players getting back to form and fitness, and a more coherent plan up front are among oupotential positives

Huddersfield Town have wrapped up their pre-season friendlies, and will kick off the competitive season against Preston North End in the Carabao Cup on Saturday afternoon.

We’ve also written about the areas we still have some concerns about — you’ll find them elsewhere.

But here, for what they’re worth, are some of the areas where we currently feel a bit of encouragement with the 2026/27 season just days away from kick-off. Make sure to bookmark it so you can refer back and make us feel stupid when we turn out to be wrong!

Town’s new signings have mostly impressed in pre-season

Please take this with a liberal pinch of salt, because pre-season is a poor basis on which to judge any players. But on the whole, we’ve liked what we’ve seen from the new boys so far — or can at least see how they might offer something to the team.

Ethan Brierley has both work rate and quality on the ball in his game, where too many of Town’s other central midfield options over the past few years have had either one or the other.

Ashley Fletcher was clearly signed to put Town further down the trail that Bojan Radulovic blazed last season. He has pleasantly surprised us by showing more dimensionality than we expected this summer.

Matty Young has had a questionable moment or two, but looks a lot more assured than the inexperienced goalkeeper they had on loan last season. If anything, his mistakes have been borne out of overconfidence rather than a lack of conviction — and he’s pulled off a few stops that have suggested the odd youthful indiscretion could prove to be forgivable.

We’ve seen less of Ilias Bronkhorst, but he looks to have the kind of attacking intent that Lynden Gooch and Lasse Sorensen brought to the side at their best last season, while he’s a bit more solid in his defending.

Then there’s the new winger they’ve signed…

Derensili Sanches Fernandes could give fans something to love