Wigan Athletic loanee Joe Taylor has opened up about his loan move from Huddersfield Town in the January transfer window.
The 23-year-old has bagged nine times in just 13 appearances since moving to The Brick Community Stadium.
What Went Wrong At Huddersfield?
Goalscoring has followed Taylor around throughout most of his career, and Wigan have been no different. Rising to prominence during a loan spell at Wroxham in 2021, netting 21 times in 13 appearances, he topped the goalscoring charts at Colchester United and Lincoln City in the 23/24 campaign. He hasn’t quite made the grade in the Championship during spells at Peterborough United and Luton Town, leaving the latter for Huddersfield.
After bagging on debut with the Terriers against Blackpool, he added one further goal as they missed out on the League One play-off places. High hopes were expected for Huddersfield this term, with many pre-season expectations placing the West Yorkshire outfit inside the automatic promotion places. But Lee Grant failed to play to Taylor’s strengths, and while he managed seven goals in the first half of the campaign, a loan move was decided to be the best outcome midway through the season.
Speaking to Sky Sports this week, Taylor gave an honest assessment of his thoughts at the time of his loan move.
“Football’s a mad old game. If you’d have asked me at the start of the season that I’d be going out on loan in January, I would have probably laughed at you.
“Football can change overnight, and it did in my case. If I’m being brutally honest, it’s probably worked out better for me. One thing I’ve always said is that I’m a player that’s at his best when playing regular football.
Why Has He Been So Effective At Wigan?
Simply put, Wigan have played to his strengths. Getting the ball in behind, Taylor is deadly in such situations, and the Latics are reaping the rewards. He got up and running against Doncaster Rovers in January, before netting five times in four February matches. Missing out against parent club Huddersfield didn’t impact the outcome in that fixture, since scoring in each of his last three appearances.
Rumours around his long-term future in West Yorkshire have already begun, which is no massive surprise. Football League World reported earlier this week that Championship pair Oxford United and Preston North End are among the second-tier clubs who will be chasing his services in the summer.
With the Terriers out of the third-tier play-off places and facing an uphill battle to regain that spot, it feels difficult to imagine them keeping him. That is, of course, if they receive a fee that they feel is adequate, particularly given he will have only been at the club for 18 months by the summer.
