Huddersfield Town Boss Neil Warnock Expecting Transfer Deadline for England star Distraction

Huddersfield Town Boss Neil Warnock Expecting Transfer Deadline for England star Distraction
The goalkeeper has not been his usual self on or off the pitch amid various rumours of a potential transfer exit, but the closure of the transfer window should end that

Terriers boss Neil Warnock suspects that the closure of the transfer window at 11pm on Friday evening will be of great benefit to goalkeeper Lee Nicholls after his unusually error-strewn start to the season.

Voted player of the year for Huddersfield Town and Championship goalkeeper of the year in 2021/22, Nicholls has made more errors leading to goals in four games this season than he had in the previous two years at the John Smith’s Stadium, most recently gifting Norwich City the opening goal on Saturday afternoon by unnecessarily punting a clearance straight at the onrushing Josh Sargent.

Warnock revealed that he had spoken to Nicholls since then and suggested that the goalkeeper may have been distracted by the low murmur of transfer rumours this summer, when numerous Premier League clubs have been in the market for a new stopper.

Such a move has not come about, however, and the manager now hopes that Nicholls can get back to his best once again without worrying about whether or not might get a move away from Town.
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Warnock said: “I’ve had a chat with one or two lads since the game at the weekend, and I think I think one or two probably had one or two things going on in their minds that I’ve put to bed now, and I think they can just concentrate on the games now.

“It’s very unlike Lee to make the mistakes that he’s made this season, but I think the window closing will shut that. I think that’s been a lot of pressure on him with there being a lot of rumours about this club after him and that club after him. Sometimes it can just get to you that.

“But I noticed the difference in him this morning, after our talk, in the training ground – smiling and not being miserable all the time and walking around on his phone all the time. So I’m hoping that we get the proper Lee now for the rest of the season.”

 

Asked if there had been any formal expressions of interest in Nicholls, Warnock said: “No, only rumours, that’s all, only rumours. I’m sure his agent as well will have been saying one or two things – but no, not anything official.

 

“I have told him that, as I would any player – I’ve always told players when we get somebody making an interest or an offer. I don’t think you can keep it away, because when they ask you when they give you an offer, 99 out of 100 times they’ve already spoken to the player, so it’s nothing secret!

“He’s a good pro, he’s just had the world on his shoulders the last three weeks. He hasn’t looked happy, and I’ve said ‘I want you to smile a bit more now, that’s gone now, the window is gone, it’s a new game’.

 

“The mistakes he’s made really have been elementary, really, for Lee – he’s a top class keeper. Like I say, I noticed that sort of skip in his step today on the training ground, and hopefully that’ll be the start and we’ll get back to where he was.

“He had a great game and Middlesbrough had a very good game against Leicester until he made a mistake there really. So it’s there, and I just think that sometimes these things build up in players. Hopefully now with [the window closing] he can relax and get on with it.”