Wrexham sanction transfer exit for ex Rangers man with 'excellent record' as new club's vision hailed 'music to my ears'
Former Rangers and Plymouth striker completed a loan move to the EFL League One club for the rest of the campaign
Former Rangers striker Ryan Hardie has declared how conversations with Huddersfield Town left him “pretty impressed” after agreeing a loan deal with the EFL League One club until the end of the season.
The 28-year-old - an Ibrox academy graduate - has taken his game to another level since moving south of the border, averaging a goal every three games for Plymouth Argyle as he helped the Devon-based club climb from League Two to the Championship during his six-year stay at Home Park.
Having spent the past two-and-a-half seasons in the English second-tier, Hardie earned a move to newly-promoted Wrexham on a three-year deal last summer.
However, he has struggled for regular game time since joining the ambitious Welsh club and has been sidelined with a knee injury since December.
Despite manager Phil Parkinson revealing the frontman was still “a couple of weeks off being fit”, Hardie has been allowed to head out on loan for the second half of the campaign where he will link up with a number of familiar faces including ex-Gers team-mate Jak Alnwick at the John Smith's Stadium.
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Explaining why his decision to join the Terriers was an opportunity he couldn’t refuse, Hardie told the club’s in-house media team: “I’m delighted to get this move completed and can’t wait to get started. Everything I’ve heard about the club has been really impressive, and the conversations I’ve had with the head coach about how we want to play and what we want to achieve have been music to my ears.
“It’s a league I know well and have been successful in before, and that’s hopefully something I can help replicate here.
“The supporters have always been brilliant when I’ve played against Town, so I’m happy to be on the same side as them, and can hopefully give them a few reasons to cheer between now and the end of the season.”
Hardie adds a with a different type of attacking option to the players currently at head coach Liam Manning’s disposal, having notched double figures in each of his four seasons with Plymouth.
”To sign a forward of Ryan’s calibre at this stage of the season is a huge boost, and his record at this level speaks for itself,” Manning commented. “Since arriving, adding a different type of profile to our options up front was always part of the conversation, and Ryan ticks a lot of those boxes for us.
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“We’ll quickly get him up to speed, and I look forward to working more closely with him alongside our coaches over the next few months. Obviously a good goal scorer but more importantly a hard worker off the ball who is just as likely to create chances for others, his arrival rounds off a really positive transfer window for the club.”
Huddersfield sporting director Chris Markham added: “Ryan is a player we’ve maintained interest in throughout this transfer window, so we’re really happy to have got the deal over the line today.
“A player whose ability and experience we believe will help us in chasing our ambitions this season, he adds something different to our forward line and has an excellent record at this level.
“Through a combination of transfer, injury and suspension, we knew that adding goals to the team was going to be important this month, and while Ryan is just shy of full match fitness at present, we don’t believe it will take him long to get back up to speed.
“We want him here to make a difference in March, April and May, not just in the immediacy, so we’ll work hard alongside him to get him up and running as soon as possible.”