David Wagner thought Huddersfield Town recruit was "perfect" for Premier League" - the jury was out on that claim | OneFootball

David Wagner lauded Steve Mounie after making him Huddersfield Town's record signing in 2017, but whether his comments came true are another matter

Ahead of Huddersfield Town's first-ever crusade into the Premier League back in the summer of 2017, David Wagner dubbed his marquee signing as 'perfect' for the top-flight - but whether his high praise was ever vindicated is open to debate.

The West Yorkshire outfit achieved their first Premier League promotion against all odds when they stunned the Championship to finish the 2016/17 campaign in fifth position before beating Sheffield Wednesday and then Reading on penalties to head to the promised land through the play-offs.

Town had finished mid-table in each of the previous three campaigns and were hardly fancied in any pre-season promotion predictions, but they proved their doubters wrong under David Wagner and became a force to be reckoned with.

The odds were once again stacked against Huddersfield after their promotion was sealed. It marked an unprecedented, and undoubtedly significant step into the unknown, against incomparably superior playing squads and budgets, where they were not anticipated to be competitive by any stretch.

But Wagner's side defied the odds for the second season running by surviving with a 16th-placed finish, having claimed well-earned consecutive draws away to Manchester City and champions Chelsea to retain their top-flight status.

They were, of course, aided by the efforts of Steve Mounie, who scored nine goals after arriving as the Terriers' record signing.

David Wagner's Steve Mounie comments after completing record Huddersfield Town deal

Huddersfield broke their transfer record more than once in the summer of 2017 in a bid to hand themselves the strongest chance of survival.

They were forced to splash the cash in order to strengthen the final third and wrapped up a club-record £11.4 million deal for Mounie, who arrived with pedigree and expectation after scoring 14 goals in 32 starts for Ligue 1 outfit Montpellier in the previous season.

During the 2016/17 season in France's top-flight, the only strikers to usurp Mounie for open play goals were Edinson Cavani, Alexandre Lacazette, Radamel Falcao, Bafetimbi Gomis and a certain Kylian Mbappe, who was enjoying his breakout campaign with Monaco at the time.

Indeed, Mbappe scored just one more league goal than Mounie and his reputation as one of the most prolific upcoming frontmen in French football was a real cause for excitement. At the time at least, it did seem a real coup that Huddersfield had managed to seal the deal.

After the completion of the deal, Wagner said of Mounie: "Steve has real physical attributes that should be perfect for the Premier League.

"We have met and I know he is a great character. At just 22 years old, he is only going to improve too. Given what he is already capable of, that is very exciting."

Steve Mounie was solid for Huddersfield Town, but perhaps didn't liev upto the hype

Wagner was bold and brave by declaring Mounie as "perfect" for the Premier League and he was perhaps never quite vindicated in being so forthright about his marquee signing.

It was a big claim which Mounie was always going to struggle to justify while playing in a Huddersfield side where his role was to feed off scraps, effectively, considering how they inevitably set up in matches under Wagner.

But that's not to say he wasn't a relative success who deserves his flowers for helping Huddersfield stay up in the Premier League, which is why he's still a cult hero among supporters to this day - more than four years after leaving the club.

With Mounie, when it rained it usually poured. The goals never flowed on a consistent basis, so to speak, but they seemed to come at once during the 16/17 season.

He enjoyed the best possible start to life as a Huddersfield player by notching a memorable debut brace in the famous 3-0 victory at Crystal Palace but didn't find the back of the net again until scoring another brace against Brighton and Hove Albion in December.

Another drought naturally followed, which Mounie ended in February by scoring in back-to-back wins over Bournemouth and West Bromwich Albion, before he added his final goal of the season with a strike in the 1-1 draw with Brighton in April.

All but one of his seven strikes came in matches Huddersfield won - they only won nine games across the entire season - underlining his importance to the side.

Like many of his teammates, Mounie endured a stark fall-off in form the following season as Huddersfield were relegated back to the Championship with a measly 16 points to their name.

The Benin international scored just twice and perhaps failed to have the expected impact in the second-tier too, recording eight strikes before returning to France with Brest in September 2020.

Importantly, Mounie's skill-set was more widely-encompassing away from simply goalscoring; at 6'3, his height and physical presence provided an outball to Wagner's side in transition and his qualities at winning flick-ons and drawing fouls, slowing the tempo down accordingly and acting as a decoy all proved instrumental at times.

Was he perfect for the Premier League? Not quite, it would seem, as there were many an occassion where he also fell short of really imposing himself in matches, he suffered lengthy goal droughts and never really got going consistently in the Championship either.

By and large, though, Huddersfield fans will argue that he would have scored 20 or more goals with adequate service. Some may view that claim as punchy, but what's harder to deny is that Mounie was feeding off scraps for much of his time with the Terriers.

With that in mind, he proved decent business at least for one season and was hardly woeful infront of goal, although he never quite resembled a player who was perfect for the Premier League either.