Huddersfield Town transfers: 'Misunderstood' winger leaves on loan with glowing references

The Wales international will join Nantes for the whole of 2024-25.

He leaves with glowing character references from the sporting director and head coach.

“Sorba has been misunderstood in the past, there’s an idea of him that’s prevalent which isn’t a fair reflection of who he is," said Cartwright. "By giving him the opportunity to play in a top five league in the world abroad, he has the chance to explore a new challenge, to concentrate on his game and remind people of what he’s capable of on the pitch.

“Having signed a long-term deal with the club, he still has several years remaining on his contract with us. While we have worked with him to find a move this summer knowing it was in our collective best interests, having seen him improve so much since joining us and become an international footballer, we continue to value him extremely highly."

Keeping a player who marked himself out as one of the top goal-makers in the Championship seems unrealistic from a footballing and perhaps a financially perspective, especially as he has an international career to think about.

Coach Duff had a similar situation at Barnsley when Hungary international Callum Styles was part of a squad which dropped into League One, and wanted to stress Thomas had given him no problems during pre-season.

“Sorba’s attitude has been first class in the time I’ve spent with him, and even with rumours swirling around his future, he’s trained well and worked hard to improve," he said. "I can’t ask anything more than that as a head coach, especially as we knew the likelihood of him moving on this summer.

“We’ve known that this news was on the cards for some time, which has helped us train and prepare accordingly. A move that is in the best interest of everyone concerned, it has created new opportunities for others in our squad to step up and make that place their own which is exciting with one more tough pre-season game to come.”

Thomas joined from Boreham Wood in January 2021 and was a key figure in his first full season, which saw the Terriers finish third in the Championship and reach the play-off final, where they were beaten at Nottingham Forest.

A clash of personalities with then-coach Mark Fotheringham saw him loaned to Blackburn Rovers for the second half of the following season, but the Scot's successor Neil Warnock brought him back that summer.

In total, Thomas has made 125 appearances as a Terrier, scoring seven times and registering 31 assists.

The fee Nantes will have to pay to make the deal permanent has not been disclosed.

Thomas is not the only player leaving Huddersfield today, with first-teamer Ben Jackson and B team right-back Neo Eccleston joining Barrow.

Jackson has moved for an undisclosed fee, whereas Eccleston has gone on loan.

Jackson, whose most recent loan was at Doncaster Rovers, made 27 league starts for the Terriers.

Eccleston is one of a number of players to have joined Huddersfield from Chelsea's youth set-up, in his case permanently in the summer of 2020.

He has been allowed to go out on loan despite having been part of the first-team squad which travelled to Austria in pre-season. He is in the final year of his contract, but Huddersfield have the option to trigger a further 12 months.

This is his first loan.