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 came to the surprising decision over the weekend to terminate their loan agreement with Aston Villa for Kaine Kesler Hayden.
The wing-back had played 15 times in all competitions for the Terriers and in recent weeks was putting in arguably his best performances for the club, including when he scored the winning goal on Boxing Day against Preston North End.
However, the recruitment of Matt Lowton from Burnley early on in the January transfer window, coupled with a return to fitness for Oliver Turton and the rule of only having five loan players in a Championship matchday squad has meant that the club have decided to send Kesler Hayden back to Villa Park.
Head coach Mark Fotheringham is favouring experience over youth in this situation and has also added experienced figures such as Anthony Knockaert and Martyn Waghorn instead on loan, with the termination of Kesler Hayden's loan meaning they now have six loanees on the books.
And despite his recent solid performances in a Huddersfield shirt, FLW's Terriers fan pundit Graeme Rayner can understand why the club have made the decision that they have done.
"He was just coming into form and played really well for the last few games, but as the club acknowledge we are now strong in that area," Graeme said.
"We've got Matt Lowton on loan, we've got Oli Turton on his way back from injury, Matty Pearson who can play that side if we needed to, Brodie Spencer is a promising young player coming through and a Northern Ireland international.
"We've got Sorba Thomas who can play at right wing-back, assuming he is still going to be at the club, so pragmatically we're sending him back because he's probably filling a space in the squad that we need other people to fill.
"I wish him the best of luck though, he's got some real promise as a young wing-back who's got real potential."
The Verdict
Kesler Hayden perhaps had a real baptism of fire playing for a club that were struggling at the wrong end of the Championship.
He wasn't wholly convincing in his first few appearances as he got to grips with the level of football, and as a mainly attack-minded wing-back he was often caught out with his positioning in defensive positions.
However, Huddersfield fans were certainly seeing the best of him in his final weeks at the club. which probably came a little too late with the arrival of Lowton.
It's clear that Fotheringham feels that he needs more experience to get his side out of the relegation battle they currently find themselves in, so it's a move that makes sense and it will allow Kesler Hayden to find a new club - potentially a divisional rival of Huddersfield's.