Danel Sinani has joined Huddersfield Town from Norwich City on a season-long loan deal with the Terriers reserving an option to buy the player permanently at the end of the season, the club announced last night.
He becomes Carlos Corberan's seventh addition of the window, boosting their creative midfield options, whilst also able when deployed as a winger.
The Serbian-born Luxembourg international joined the Canaries on a free transfer from Dudelange last summer and spent last season on loan in the Belgian Jupiler League with Waasland-Beveren. Sinani scored on his Premier League 2 debut playing as a second striker last term and has played in every midfield and striker position in his career.
With respect to the Belgian top-flight, the Championship is quite possibly the highest level he will have played at in his career, but at 24, with Huddersfield's option to buy in the deal, he needs to make his mark.
The Terriers are fairly stacked in wide areas, boasting the services of Isaac Mbenza, Rolando Aarons, Sorba Thomas, Duane Holmes and Aaron Rowe to name five, one would suspect they may dip into the loan market in struggling to provide game time for all of those players but it would suggest that Corberan sees Sinani's main role as a central attacking midfielder.
Sinani found the net four times and assisted once in 21 appearances for Waasland-Beveren, not too much to go off but Norwich's foreign scouting has been exemplary in recent years so there must be something they have seen in him.
The Verdict
The jury is out on Sinani with his limited experience in a top level league, but his opportunity at the John Smith's Stadium is huge, Corberan can be very particular with the types of players he brings in and the 24-year-old has fit that bill.
Terriers' fans are expected to trust the process as they return to stadiums with their side fourth favourites to be relegated to League One in just their third season following their fall from the Premier League.
Sinani is a bit of a wildcard addition, he joins an exciting Huddersfield midfield, adding a point of difference to their current squad. It will be interesting to see if he features in their League Cup first round trip to Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday.