Huddersfield Town: Leigh Bromby recruiting ex-Arsenal man was a real failure: View | OneFootball

Huddersfield Town found themselves in a rather tricky position back in February 2021, just over a year before the Terriers were agonisingly missing out on promotion to the Premier League via the Championship play-off final.

At this point, though, things were a lot different and those connected with the club found themselves nervously looking over their at the second-tier relegation zone.

Following a 2-1 defeat to Middlesbrough on 16th February that year, Huddersfield had taken just two points from eight league games since the start of 2021.

That run had left them 18th in the Championship table, just five points clear of the bottom three. One big issue for the club was a lack of centre forward options.

After failing to add in that position during the transfer window the previous month, an injury to Danny Ward meant Fraizer Campbell - who scored seven goals in 40 games that season - was the only senior option to lead the line.

However, they did still have the option of strengthening via the free agent market, something that the club's then Head of Football Operations, Leigh Bromby, moved to take advantage of.

Huddersfield bolstered their attack with Sanogo

Amid that centre forward shortage, the Terriers made their move in February 2021 to boost their options in that position, with the signing of Yaya Sanogo on a deal until the end of that campaign.

The Frenchman joined Huddersfield on a free transfer, his first club since being released by Toulouse in the summer of 2020.

It was a move that marked a return to English football for Sanogo, who had previously been on the books of Arsenal between 2013 and 2017.

However, he had scored just once in 20 appearances in all competitions for the Gunners, while also spending time out on loan with the likes of Crystal Palace and Charlton Athletic.

Ultimately, though, his spell with Huddersfield would be just as, if not more limited in its success, than his time with the Gunners.

Sanogo never made his mark for the Terriers

In the end, Huddersfield would manage to avoid relegation from the Championship come the end of 2020/21 season.

The Yorkshire club secured a 20th place finish in the second-tier standings, six points clear of the relegation zone.

However, Sanogo's contributions to that, were somewhat limited. Between his arrival at the John Smith's Stadium in February 2021 and the end of that campaign, the striker managed just nine appearances for the Terriers.

Only five of those outings for Huddersfield were as a starter, and the striker failed to get on the scoresheet at all while playing for the club, missing a penalty in a goalless draw with Cardiff City on March 5th.

Indeed, the Frenchman rarely failed to pose much of a threat to opposition defences, meaning he did not really make the impact that the Terriers would have wanted from a striker.

As a result, it is perhaps no surprise that the club elected not to extend his contract when it expired in the summer of 2021.

That, of course, meant that Huddersfield missed out on any chance to make any sort of profit on their investment in the forward, which was at least limited.

Perhaps tellingly, after leaving the club at the end of the 2020/21 campaign, Sanogo did not find another team until January 2023.

Even then, it was with a move to join FC Urartu Yerevan in the Armenian top-flight, where he would go on to score six goals in 17 appearances in all competitions.

Sanogo was then on the move again earlier this year, when he moved again on a free transfer, this time joining Qingdao Red Lions in the Chinese second-tier.

As a result, a combination of his lack of impact at Huddersfield, the time it took him to find a new club after his departure, and the level he eventually found himself playing at, arguably highlights that this was a move for the Terriers that was never really going to work out.