‘The best outcome for all concerned’ – Huddersfield Town make decision regarding 25-year-old: The verdict | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict’ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Huddersfield Town have finally come to a decision regarding Isaac Mbenza – and they have decided to cut their losses on the 25-year-old.

The Terriers announced today that after joining the club permanently two years ago after an initial loan spell, the winger is free to join another club after mutually agreeing to terminate his contract.

Despite the club triggering an option to extend the Frenchman’s deal by a year this summer, they were clearly hoping to get a fee for Mbenza but it hasn’t materialised, so instead of re-integrating him back into the senior squad he is set to find football elsewhere.

Is it the right decision to make for the club though? The FLW team have had their say on the matter…

George Harbey

It’s been underwhelming.

Expectations were high when Mbenza was brought to the club as they spent big bucks on him, but he’s ultimately failed to really deliver.

He scored five goals and added eight assists last season, which isn’t a bad return, but you expect more from a player of his pedigree.

The way Carlos Corberan sets his team up, you need energy and I don’t think Mbenza really fit in to be honest.

12 of these 25 Huddersfield Town facts are fake – Can you identify them?

1 of 25

Huddersfield were founded in 1908.

True

False

It’s the right call if he isn’t going to play, as he was likely to be on quite a big wage and it’s money off the bill which is beneficial.

Adam Jones

You almost expected more from Mbenza – and it’s a massive shame for Huddersfield fans who didn’t really get to see the best of him until towards the end of his stay at the John Smith’s Stadium.

However, you could argue his 13 goal contributions saved the Terriers from the drop this season, so that’s something Huddersfield can be thankful for after two underwhelming seasons before the 2020/21 campaign.

With this and the fact he failed to make a single appearance for the Terriers this season, it almost feels like the right time for the two to part ways.

Consistency is key in terms of providing value for money and because Mbenza wasn’t effective enough during the opening two seasons in West Yorkshire, he just didn’t do enough to be classed as a successful signing for Carlos Corberan’s men.

The Terriers have also started well this season with the magnificent Sorba Thomas on the wing, so this may prove to be no loss to the Terriers in the end.

Jordan Rushworth

This seems like belatedly the right decision from Huddersfield Town with Isaac Mbenza a player that needed to move on and get a fresh start somewhere else to get his career going back in the right direction.

The plan seems to have been for Huddersfield to try and recoup some money for Mbenza in the summer transfer window and that is why his contract was renewed.

However, the Terriers were unable to find a buyer for the 25-year-old and they needed to now get him off the wage bill.

Mbenza is certainly a much better player than he managed to show he was for the vast majority of his time with Huddersfield.

Last season we saw glimpses of the potential that he has and the qualities that he could bring to the table and a return of five goals and seven assists in 36 appearances was not bad going.

However, he was not able to do anywhere near enough to ever justify the money that Huddersfield paid to sign him on a permanent deal after his initial loan spell in the 2018/19 campaign.

It was a tough baptism of fire for Mbenza at Huddersfield and it is difficult to single out any of their players for not doing enough in that 2018/19 season because the Terriers were not good enough all over the field on their way to relegation.

Mbenza though has not managed to recover well enough in the Championship, and despite last season’s upturn in form, it was clear that he was never going to live up to expectations with the Terriers.

A move away is the best outcome for all concerned at this stage.