Huddersfield Town midfielder Jonathan Hogg has sent Tommy Smith a good luck message on
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The defender joined the Potters on a three-year-deal yesterday for an undisclosed fee (via BBC Sport).
Smith made 200 appearances for Huddersfield across a seven-year spell with the club, helping them achieve a historic promotion to the top-flight in 2017 alongside Hogg.
Posting a picture of him holding the Championship play-off trophy with his former team-mate on Instagram, Hogg said it had been a pleasure to play next to Smith.
Although the full-back had been a regular during the Terriers' resurgence, he only featured on 16 occasions in all competitions last season as Jan Siewert's side were relegated from the Premier League in May.
Smith moves to a Stoke side who will be looking to better the 16th place finish that they achieved during the previous campaign in 2020 and will be fighting with the likes of Tom Edwards and Moritz Bauer for a starting role under Nathan Jones.
The Verdict
Although losing a player who has a wealth of experience at Championship level is unquestionably a blow for Huddersfield, there is no reason why the club cannot thrive in his absence next season.
Having already secured the services of Josh Koroma, Reece Brown and Kamil Grabara this summer, it is clear that Siewert is moving towards placing his trust in youth as he aims to banish the memories of what was a truly dismal 2018/19 campaign.
Considering that both Florent Hadergjonaj and new arrival Herbert Bockhorn can operate in the full-back role, the Terriers may not even need to bring in a replacement for Smith providing that this duo can hit the ground running in the second tier.
If this ends up being the case, Siewert could use the money garnered from Smith's sale to bolster his squad in other areas which need improving upon, such as left-back for example.