Striker Tyreece Simpson’s protracted move to Championship Huddersfield Town has finally been confirmed, the 20-year-old having signed a four-year contract.
Over the weekend, the Terriers inadvertently posted a video of an in-house post-signing interview with the striker on YouTube before removing it.
Subsequently there were reports of a late West Brom approach, however, we understand the Baggies interest came little while ago rather than closer to today's deadline.
Huddersfield head of operations Leigh Bromby told his club’s official site: "We’re very happy to welcome Tyreece to Huddersfield Town. He’s a player we’ve admired and followed for a long time, so it’s great to get this deal over the line.
"We’ve had to negotiate hard to finalise this deal amid interest from several other clubs, which is unsurprising — it’s not often a player of his ability and promise enters the final year of a contract.
"""We want to give [manager] Danny [Schofield] as many different options as we can — that’s more important than ever since the increase in the number of players that can be used in each game.
"Tyreece’s profile as a player is different to the other strikers we have in the First Team squad, so he adds another string to our bow.
"""There’s much more to come from Tyreece too, and we believe our coaching and physical programmes will bring that out of him. The character references we’ve received, combined with what he had to say in our meetings, all indicate he will throw himself into that challenge.
"He is currently recovering from [what TWTD understands to be a knee] injury, so we will have to be patient until that process is complete — we expect that to be around the World Cup break. He’s a player we believe can make an impact over the short and long term here, and we know he will be worth the wait.”""
Schofield added: "I’m really looking forward to beginning our work on the training pitch with Tyreece as he’s an exciting player, as everyone saw through his loan spell with Swindon Town last season.
"His understanding of the game — the timing of his runs in behind in particular — is impressive for a player of his age, and his physical abilities allowed him to dominate games in Sky Bet League Two whilst still a teenager.
"Whilst we believe he can already impact Championship games when he’s completed his rehabilitation from injury, there’s also clear space for Tyreece to continue to improve. That makes him all the more exciting.”
TWTD reported a fortnight ago that Simpson was set to join the Terriers with discussions between the clubs having been ongoing for some weeks.
Towards the end of last season, Simpson, who scored 11 goals during a successful loan spell at Swindon in the first half of 2021/22, told the Blues he wanted to move on this summer having turned down the offer of a new contract in January.
In May, Town took up a one-year option on his previous deal in order to secure a fee which was likely to be higher than the training compensation they would otherwise have received.
Luton, Peterborough, Middlesbrough and Barnsley all showed interest during the close season and Town turned down a number of offers for the academy product with clubs not matching their asking price which was understood to be £600,000.
It’s understood the Blues will receive a fee of £500,000 paid over a number of seasons plus top-ups potentially taking the move into seven figures and with the deal including a sell-on clause.
Simpson made two senior starts and five sub appearances for the Blues without scoring. This season, the frontman hasn't featured for Town at any level.
Stowmarket-based Simpson joined the Town academy as a scholar in the summer of 2018 after a trial having also spent time with Manchester City.
The striker was also a talented schoolboy rugby player - he was part of the Norfolk-based Langley School side that won the U18 Schools Vase at Twickenham in 2018 - and came close to signing for the Leicester Tigers academy prior to his recruitment by the Blues’ youth set-up.