League Two club make "ambitious" transfer move for Huddersfield Town defender | OneFootball

League Two Harrogate Town are set to make an ambitious bid to sign the experienced defender Tom Lees, who's out of contract with Huddersfield.

Harrogate Town are set to make an ambitious bid for highly experienced Huddersfield Town defender Tom Lees, according to reports.

Huddersfield have recently appointed Lee Grant as their new manager, following a disastrous end to the season which saw them drop to 10th place in League One.

Manager Michael Duff was sacked in March, but the interim replacement, Jon Worthington, couldn't steady the ship. The club also sacked sporting director Mark Cartwright before the end of the season.

Grant was appointed at the end of May, and one his first jobs will be to replace one of the players on the club's end-of-season retained and released list who is now set to leave the club after four years in the form of Lees.

Harrogate Town set to make an ambitious Tom Lees contract offer after Huddersfield exit

Journalist Alan Nixon has reported that highly experienced defender Tom Lees is subject to interest from Harrogate Town.

Lees is out of contract and due to leave Huddersfield at the end of June, and Nixon reports that they are "making an ambitious bid" to bring the 34-year-old to The Exercise Stadium for the new season.

Nixon reports that part of the appeal to Lees may be that Harrogate are his "local club", having been raised in nearby Knaresborough since he was a child, and the Yorkshire outfit have put together "a record package" in order to encourage him to drop a division to play for them.

Veteran defender Lees played 29 times in League One for the Terriers last season, although his campaign - and in the end his Huddersfield career - was ended abruptly in February due to a knee injury.

Harrogate Town would be getting a lot of experience for their money if they landed Tom Lees

A move for Lees would certainly be an ambitious one for a club that was only promoted into the EFL five years ago.

Salary Sport indicates that Lees' estimated salary at Huddersfield has been £6,600-per-week, while Harrogate's highest-earning player is estimated to be Anthony O'Connor, on £2,500-a-week.

But if Harrogate are planning to make a tempting bid to Lees, they would certainly be getting a lot of experience for their money.

Lees is 34 years old, and has a decade and half's experience across all three divisions of the EFL, as well as having made six appearances for the England under-21s earlier in his career.

Lees came through the academy system at Leeds United, and spent periods on loan at Accrington Stanley and Bury before breaking into the Leeds first team in 2011. He made 123 appearances for Leeds before moving to Sheffield Wednesday in 2014, staying at Hillsborough for seven years before being released by the club and joining Huddersfield in 2021.

Since joining the EFL five years ago, Harrogate have only finished above 17th in the table once since. But it may be the case that loosening the purse-strings is the key to improving the team's performances on the pitch and improving on a slightly underwhelming period in League Two.