"Desperately need" - Huddersfield Town told to pursue Luton Town deal over Southampton man | OneFootball

FLW's Terriers fan pundit believes that the club should pursue Joe Taylor over Dom Ballard this summer

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Huddersfield Town have been urged to pursue the signing of Luton Town striker Joe Taylor over Southampton frontman Dom Ballard, following a recent report linking both players to the John Smith's Stadium.

The Terriers are facing a first season in the third tier since 2011/12 after they picked up just 45 points and finished 23rd in the second-tier under three different bosses last season, and must get their summer transfer window right if they wish to bounce back to the Championship at the first time of asking in 2024/25.

Andre Breitenreiter left his managerial post by mutual consent on May 10 after less than three months in the job, with Michael Duff hired three days later ahead of a huge summer, and the former Barnsley and Swansea City boss has wasted no time in making some key transfer decisions to prepare the Terriers for life in League One.

Jordan Rhodes, Yuta Nakayama, Brahima Diarra, Aaron Rowe and Connor Mahoney have all left the club upon the expiry of their deals, while dynamic midfielder Jack Rudoni has joined Coventry City for an initial fee of around £3.7m, and wide player Sorba Thomas is reportedly set to join FC Nantes on loan.

Duff has been busy with incomings too, with Antony Evans, Lasse Sorensen, Herbie Kane and Mickel Miller all joining from Bristol Rovers, Lincoln City, Barnsley and Plymouth Argyle respectively as he shapes his squad before the window shuts on August 30.

No strikers have joined the Terriers as yet, but Luton's Joe Taylor and Southampton's Dom Ballard are both reported targets for Duff, who wants to bring in a new number nine to fire his side to promotion while competing for places with the likes of Rhys Healey and Danny Ward.

That is according to journalist Alan Nixon, via Patreon, who states that Huddersfield hope to get the nod to complete a swoop for Ballard this week to beat rivals to his signature, and are also in the pack chasing Taylor - it is likely however that only one will arrive in West Yorkshire this summer.

Huddersfield told to secure Joe Taylor signing instead of Dom Ballard

Both Taylor, 21, and Ballard, 19, are highly-rated strikers at their respective clubs, but are each likely to not get game-time this coming season, and so set to seek pastures new on loan for the upcoming campaign.

Wales youth international Taylor impressed in spells at Colchester United and Lincoln City last season, and is reportedly also being chased by the Hatters' rivals Watford, whereas Ballard joined Reading last summer and started the campaign well, but suffered a season-ending knee injury in November, and is now an apparent target for fellow League One sides Bolton and Wycombe Wanderers as well.

With the news that only one of the duo will likely join the club this summer, Football League World's Huddersfield fan pundit, Graeme Rayner, would prefer Taylor to arrive in HD1 in the coming weeks, due to his experience and better goal record in senior football compared to Ballard.

“It’s good news and a good sign that we are rumoured to be in for both of these players, because we know it's an area we need to address after we missed out on Alfie May at the last minute,” Graeme told FLW.

“We desperately need numbers, Duff seems to like to play with two up top if he can, and so, first of all, why can’t we sign both?

“That would be great, but if I had to choose between Dom Ballard and Joe Taylor for this season, I would say Taylor, purely because he has over 80 games or so under his belt, with a decent number of those in the Football League, so I think he has some degree of experience.

“Last season he scored a decent number of goals in League Two in his first loan at Colchester, and actually had a better goalscoring return on loan at Lincoln in League One, he scored better than one-in-two for them in the second half of the season, so if we could get him that would be great.

“Dom Ballard looks like he’s got a really bright future, but if he is going to be our first choice, we just don’t know what his goal return will be, and he’s not got a lot of experience in terms of games, about a quarter compared to Taylor.

“If I had to choose, Joe Taylor would be the one for me. We desperately need a striker who can add goals to the team.

“Danny Ward is not getting any younger and has only really had one good goalscoring season in this spell at Town, the one when we got to the play-off final, and other than Rhys Healey, none of our other strikers really have the pedigree or the experience and I would imagine most of those will move on pretty soon.”

Joe Taylor would be the better option for Michael Duff

It is clear, given links to both players, that Michael Duff is after more firepower in his forward line this summer, especially given Town's poor record in front of goal in the second-tier last season.

Huddersfield were the Championship's fifth-lowest scorers with 48 goals in 2023/24, and their strikers only netted a combined eight times in the league as centre-back Michal Helik outscored them by himself with nine strikes.

Taylor would be the perfect addition to improve that lacklustre threat, after he helped Luton to promotion to the Premier League in 2023 by scoring a penalty in the play-off final, and then shone on loan at both Colchester and Lincoln last season.

The 21-year-old netted 11 goals in 25 League Two games with the U's in the first half of the campaign, then was recalled to move to Sincil Bank and applied his fine form to the third-tier as he scored 10 times in 19 appearances and picked up the League One Player of the Month and the EFL Young Player of the Month for March 2024 as Lincoln just missed out on a play-off spot at the end of the season.

He is clearly a great talent and a prolific scorer at League One level, so it seems a no-brainer for Huddersfield to sign him if the opportunity arises in the coming weeks.

While England youth international Ballard is also an impressive youngster, and would likely have netted a lot more goals if his season with Reading had not been curtailed early by injury, he is younger than Taylor and has a lesser record so far in his career, so it makes sense for Huddersfield to go for the more proven option in Taylor, with their aim being to bounce back to the second-tier at the first time of asking.