Can Huddersfield keep hold of star striker?

Premier League Fulham are being linked with a move for Huddersfield striker Jordan Rhodes.

According to Sky Sports reports the Cottagers have already had a £2million bid turned for the Scottish under-21 international.

Highly-rated

Jordan Rhodes is highly-rated and last season was linked with moves to several Premier League clubs.

The £2million bid seems rather low, considering Rhodes was being linked with a £7million move to Everton and Celtic last season.

Fulham are not the only club sniffing around Rhodes either. Championship side Blackburn Rovers have also been linked with a move for the youngster.

Goals

The reason Rhodes is so highly-rated is because of his outstanding goalscoring record for the Terriers in the last few seasons. His 40 goals in League One last season were enough to guide Simon Grayson’s side to promotion.

The season before that he scored 22 goals in all competitions, despite limited appearances. The consistency of his scoring brought him to the attention of a host of top flight clubs. With goalscorers hard to come by in the modern game there is major interest in Rhodes.

Standard

For the last couple of seasons Rhodes has been plying his trade in English football’s third tier. As previously mentioned he does have an outstanding goalscoring record at Huddersfield. The big question is can he score goals at a higher level?

If he doesn’t move on this summer, that question will be answered anyway, as he will be playing in the Championship in the new season with Huddersfield. The Championship maybe isn’t such a step up in quality from League One, but it’s still a step up of sorts.

Should he score goals in the Championship then a move to the Premier League would be a major step up. Whether he could score goals in the top flight remains to be seen.

Staying

All the noises coming out of Huddersfield at the moment seems to point to Rhodes staying at the club. Terriers boss Simon Grayson obviously doesn’t want to lose his most talented player. The former-Leeds boss has stated that only ‘serious offers’ will be considered for the young forward.

I’m not surprise that Huddersfield have dismissed Fulham’s reported bid. In this day and age £2million is an absolutely ridiculous bid for a player as highly-rated as Jordan Rhodes.

Rhodes himself has stated that he is happy to be a Huddersfield player and that he doesn’t wish to move on. However, should a good offer from a Premier League club come in I wonder if he would change his stance on the matter?

International

Jordan Rhodes looks set to have a bright future ahead of him for Scotland at international level as well. The Scottish national side hasn’t exactly been brimming with prolific goalscorers in recent years. The English-born striker looks like the best striking prospect Scotland have had for along while.

Rhodes has made just one cameo appearance for Scotland so far, coming on as an 87th minute substitute against Cyprus. It definitely won’t be the last though.

Development

He may now be an international now, but Jordan Rhodes still has a lot of developing to do as a footballer. At 22 he is still a young player and has plenty of time to play in the top flight. I really don’t think that he should be in a rush to move up the divisions.

It’s vital for his development that he is getting first team football right now. Should he move to a Premier League club, he may end up sitting on the bench and not getting much playing time. He could even move to a Premier League club and prove a flop because he’s not quite ready for top flight football.

I believe at the moment the best place for Jordan Rhodes at the moment is Huddersfield. Who knows this time next summer he could be preparing for life in the Premier League with the Terriers.

Can Huddersfield keep hold of Jordan Rhodes?