Why it didn’t work out at Huddersfield for Portsmouth’s deadline-day signing Josh Koroma

However, questions have been raised as to why he was given the green light to depart the John Smith’s Stadium this summer.

We spoke to the Yorkshire Post’s chief football writer Stuart Rayner, who revealed what went wrong for the 23-year-old with the Terriers – and why Pompey fans should be positive over the forward’s arrival.

He told The News: ‘When Josh first arrived, he came from Leyton Orient in the National League, so there was always a step up to be made and he didn’t score in his first season at the club when Danny Cowley was in charge.

‘He seemed as though he found his feet in his second season (2020-21), but ended up getting an injury which ruled him out for four months.

‘Even though he scored a couple of goals when he came back, he really struggled to recreate that form in the following season in 2021-22.

‘It was just the fact that quite a few other players did step up their games a little bit and he got left behind.

‘Josh got into a bit of a vicious cycle where he wasn't playing well enough to get the regular game time, but wasn’t getting the regular game time to play well enough. He wasn’t able to impose himself.

‘It felt the club had moved on to a higher standard last season and he hadn’t been able to move with them in that period.

‘I don’t think many of us were expecting it when it happened on Thursday, but there might have been some balancing of the books.

‘Huddersfield paid £500,000 for Tyreece Simpson on deadline day, so you can see in their transfer activity that there’s been a real attempt to balance the books and weigh signings off.

‘It was the best time for him to move on because he needs that run of matches – and stepping down one division is probably the best way for him to get into the groove.

‘I’d be surprised if he’s been written off at Huddersfield, I think it would be one of those where they might have to reassess it at Christmas or beyond.

‘Huddersfield tend to take a very long-term view to the development of players and if they do see signs of progress at Pompey they might be tempted to offer him a new contract.

‘But, as things stand, he will have to do well to go back.

‘He’s a player who can do positive things at that level given regular football and challenging for promotion with five subs, you’ll need a mixture of attacking players to share the goals out – and he can be one of them.’