After scoring Birmingham City’s game-winning goal against the Terriers on Tuesday night, Alfie May has revealed just how close he came to joining Huddersfield Town.
For a reported sum of around £775,000, the frontman finalized his transfer from Charlton Athletic to the West Midlands, with Huddersfield expressing a strong desire to sign him.
After joining the Addicks from Cheltenham Town, May scored 23 goals for the team, finishing as League One’s top scorer in the previous season.
He was coached by current Huddersfield manager Michael Duff during two of his three extremely successful seasons at Cheltenham, when he scored 23 goals in the 2021–2022 League One season.
| Alfie May’s League One Stats for Cheltenham Town – As Per FotMob | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| 2021/22 | 46 | 23 | 4 |
| 2022/23 | 39 | 20 | 3 |
May, one of many well-known additions made to the St Andrews at Knighthead Park roster during a busy summer transfer window, has performed admirably for Chris Davies’ team thus far.
Only Lee Gregory of Mansfield Town has scored more goals in eight league games than May, who has managed to hold onto his five goals despite the sensational £15 million deadline day acquisition of Jay Stansfield from Fulham.
In fact, yesterday night’s game-winning goal came from a combination between May and Stansfield. After 63 minutes, Stansfield put up the 31-year-old for the game-winning goal, guaranteeing Birmingham’s seventh consecutive league victory.
Alfie May discusses the transfer decision between Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town.
After the affair, May disclosed that, before the Blues called, he was about to get back together with Duff in West Yorkshire.
May responded to a question from the media regarding how near he was to finalizing the move to Huddersfield by saying, “Very, if I’m totally honest.”
“I was transformed into the player I am now by Michael Duff, one of my former managers, and the incredible interest they showed me right away.
“It was a challenging choice. Football is being played. Hopefully, no negative emotions are present. Michael Duff and I haven’t spoken yet. That moment is coming.
“As a player, you hear tiny things when you gain attention, and Birmingham sent me a late notice. It’s just one of those occurrences.”
The Huddersfield Town snub by Alfie May is already paying off.
At the time, May took a risk with this decision because their time together at Cheltenham had truly given Duff the boost he needed to launch his career.
Naturally, Huddersfield was one of the teams who participated in the Championship only the previous year and was heavily favored to win promotion in the upcoming season.
For the Terriers, who are currently in 15th place after seven losses in their previous eight games in all competitions, it hasn’t quite happened yet. Duff will undoubtedly be concerned because five of those came from League One play, but you would expect them to improve as the season progresses.
Birmingham, however, have already shot to the summit of the third-tier table with a five-point margin over second-placed Wrexham, who they defeated 3-1 on home soil last month.
Rather unsurprisingly, Blues appear poised to make an immediate return to the Championship and it could well come at a canter, too. With that in mind, May will surely feel vindicated in his decision to snub Huddersfield’s advanced interest to sign on with Birmingham at the last minute.
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