Huddersfield Town told to defeat Charlton Athletic in Ethan Galbraith battle despite £3m transfer claim | OneFootball

The Terriers are battling with Championship opposition for the 24-year-old.

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 are in a three-way battle with Charlton Athletic and Swansea City to sign Leyton Orient midfielder Ethan Galbraith.

A bidding war for the Northern Irish international has begun following his standout season under Richie Wellens that helped them reach the play-off final. Charlton, who beat Orient at Wembley to secure a spot in next season's Championship, opened the proceedings with a reported £1.3 million bid, but that was turned down.

Huddersfield then one-upped their transfer rivals by putting in a £2.5 million, as per Alan Nixon. He added that a £3 million deal would convince the O's to sell Galbraith.

Swansea have also been linked with the Manchester United academy graduate, and it has now been reported by Football Insider that all three teams have had offers rejected by Wellens' side. They also claim that Town's bid was £1.5 million and not £2.5 million.

Huddersfield Town urged to seal Ethan Galbraith deal

Galbraith, who played much of the 24/25 campaign on the right side of defence for Wellens, would be able to bring a lot to Lee Grant's side, according to one of Football League World's Huddersfield fan pundits, Graeme Rayner.

They had an underwhelming season last time out, and he sees the 24-year-old as a strong option to improve one of the weaker areas of their squad.

"I think he's an extremely capable player at this level, and I'd like to think that he could do us a job," Graeme told FLW.

"He's very versatile. I'd like to think that he could certainly give us options in various positions that we need that quality in, and his goal contributions look like they're interesting, because we struggled with that from midfield last season.

"He's got good pedigree, decent experience at this level. The only issue that I would have is, does he have a position that is his best position? Sometimes players that are versatile end up not nailing down a position. I much prefer seeing players make a position their own.

"And then is this him coming in to replace someone? Because if it's a central midfield role, which seems to be his best role, then we have numbers there, but we have numbers there where a lot of them were underwhelming last season. So if, for example, this is someone coming in to replace Anthony Evans or a Ben Wiles, then that would be very welcome.

"In terms of value, £3 million is a lot of money at League One level, although Birmingham [City] did move the needle a bit last season.

|But he is 24 and an international with Northern Ireland, so if the contract reflects it and meant that we would look to recoup some of that if he kicks on, then great.

"Also, £3 million for someone may well help you get into the division above.

"That's, in the bigger picture, not huge. So if we're haggling over half a million then we should maybe put our money where our mouth is, as long as it doesn't lead to us getting taken advantage of by other people later on.

"But, yeah, he's an exciting-looking prospect and hopefully we can do something."

Heavy Huddersfield Town spending raises the expectations of new manager Lee Grant

A statement of magnitudinal proportions has already been made by Huddersfield in the League One transfer market.

Ryan Ledson, Marcus Harness, Joe Low, Sean Roughan, Murray Wallace and Josh Feeney have all signed on the dotted line at the John Smith's Stadium in what has been a hot start to the summer window.

Crystal Palace goalkeeper Owen Goodman is set to follow soon, after FLW revealed that they had joined Barnsley and Bolton Wanderers in the race to sign the 21-year-old.

He had an extremely impressive loan spell with AFC Wimbledon last season, helping them to win promotion to the third tier. Add to all that the vast abilities of Galbraith and Grant will have a serious squad on his hands.

It is his first job in management, but the same could be said for Birmingham boss Chris Davies, who broke the EFL points record in the previous term.

The former Man United goalkeeper wouldn't be expected to perform to those levels, but the sheer quality of the tools available to him will put a lot of pressure on the 42-year-old to deliver the promotion that those that came before him failed to do.