Premier League duo Wolverhampton Wanderers and Crystal Palace reportedly wanted Huddersfield Town’s Championship talisman Karlan Grant.
Huddersfield Town turned down a ‘huge’ £15 million offer from Karlan Grant during the January transfer window, manager Danny Cowley has told the Examiner, with the Crystal Palace and Wolves target still plying his football in West Yorkshire.
On paper at least, the transfer window appears to have gone pretty well for the Terriers.
Huddersfield managed to get a couple of high-earning outcasts off the wage bill while bringing in a wealth of experience and potential in the shape of Richard Stearman, Jonas Lossl, Emile Smith-Rowe and Andy King.
Keeping hold of Grant, however, could prove to be the difference between a comfortable mid-table finish and successive relegations.
Huddersfield’s 13-goal top scorer was a target for Premier League duo Wolverhampton Wanderers and Crystal Palace, according to the Sun (13 November, page 61) but even a bid of £15 million was not enough to convince the second-tier strugglers to cash in.
“It was a huge offer and, rightly so, because Karlan is a top, top player who will go on to grace the Premier League in years to come – I have no doubt about that,” said a clearly thrilled Cowley.
“We have to thank the chairman – luckily he is a supporter first and chairman second. I don’t think his bank manager was very pleased, but we were!
“I thought it was a really intelligent decision because firstly Karlan had to want to stay, which he does and which is very important.
“Let’s be fair to the kid, there was a lot of interest from a lot of clubs who would pay him an awful lot of money, so credit to him that he was willing to stay and wanted to stay.”
As far as Wolves and Palace are concerned, however, the January window ended with a few regrets.
Palace boss Roy Hodgson has spoken openly about his disappointment after the Eagles missed out on a host of targets (Telegraph) while Wolves failed to replace the departed Patrick Cutrone, leaving themselves short in attack ahead of a gruelling fixture schedule.
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