Shrewd Liverpool deal handed Huddersfield Town promotion hero - He may have transfer regret though | OneFootball

His time at the John Smith’s Stadium will likely go down as one of the best of his career

Liverpool loanee Danny Ward became a promotion hero with Huddersfield Town in the 2016/17 season.

Ward spent most of his youth career with Wrexham, before joining Liverpool in 2012.

He was sent out on loan with Huddersfield Town for the 2016/17 season, after signing a long-term contract with the Reds, and played a full season for the Terriers.

Judging what followed, Ward may hold some regrets that he didn’t extend his time in Yorkshire.

Danny Ward needed experience when he joined Huddersfield Town from Liverpool

Before arriving at Huddersfield, Ward’s senior experience was sparse.

He’d had a couple of loan spells with Morecambe and Aberdeen, but 21 appearances with the latter was his most sustainedleague experience.

He had appeared twice in the Premier League for Liverpool the season prior to his Terriers secondment, but it was regular, consistent minutes that Ward needed.

The loan move provided him with those minutes, and along with it just about the best loan experience all parties could have hoped for.

Danny Ward's 16/17 season at Huddersfield Town couldn’t have gone much better

En route to a fifth-place finish in the Championship, Ward appeared in all but three of the Terrier’s 46 league games, keeping 11 clean sheets in the process.

It was enough to bag Huddersfield a spot in the play-offs, and a tough two-legged bout with Sheffield Wednesday awaited.

Ward was suspended for the first, a 0-0 draw, but he made his presence known in the second. With the game stretched out all the way to penalties, Ward saved the spot-kicks of Sam Hutchinson and Fernando Forestieri to book his temporary side’s place at Wembley.

The final against Reading was a similarly tense affair, ending in stalemate after extra-time.

It was the time that goalkeepers stand up to be counted – the rare occasion that a gloveman can win his side a game rather than simply prevent them from losing it.

And those occasions don’t come much bigger than having the potential of Premier League football riding on them.

But Ward did his job, profiting from a Liam Moore miss before saving Jordan Obita’s strike, leaving Christopher Schindler to step up and book his side’s place in the top flight.

After the win, Ward told ESPN: "On a selfish point, yes, I would like to stay at Huddersfield.

"I am only young for a goalkeeper and to have a chance of playing week-in week-out in the Premier League would be good experience for someone of my age

"It would be more beneficial than being on the bench but, as I say, Liverpool have my contract.''

Danny Ward may regret failing to seal permanent Huddersfield Town transfer

The gloveman never did get his desired permanent move to Huddersfield and, assessing what followed, given his clearly stated desire, that’s probably the source of some regret.

He made just one EFL Cup appearance for Liverpool in the following season, before joining Leicester City for a fee of £12.5m – much of that value likely built up through his season at Huddersfield.

But, despite the hefty outlay, Ward never made more than the 26 league appearances he managed for the Foxes in the Premier League in the 2022/23 season.

To his credit, he managed to keep six clean sheets in that year, despite the club being relegated to the Championship.

But it probably wasn’t how he envisaged his career panning out when he made such a crucial impact for the Terriers – still his only full season as a club’s no.1.

He will likely look back at the summer of 2017 as a missed opportunity to kick on with his career, but he’ll always have the fond memories of his vital contributions for Huddersfield that season.