Huddersfield Town already know how to fill Levi Colwill-shaped squad hole after Chelsea return

Huddersfield Town fans may get one final chance to see Levi Colwill in action at the John Smith’s Stadium on Monday evening when England under-21s face Slovenia, but they will not be seeing him line up in a Terriers shirt again after his loan from Chelsea was brought to an end.

The teenager’s departure leaves a notable gap in an impressive rearguard that was the basis for Town’s push to third in the Championship and a trip to Wembley for the play-off final, with the returning Will Boyle looking more like a Naby Sarr replacement than a Colwill replacement.

It’s not simply a matter of quality, but of the role Colwill played. Tom Lees and Matty Pearson are both superbly positionally aware and excellent in the air, which more than makes up for their relative lack of pace, and Boyle looks to fit that mould too. Rarmani Edmonds-Green has more speed, but is right-footed where Colwill is left-; and Romoney Crichlow looks like he may need more experience before he is ready for regular Championship football.

Unfortunately, replacing a player of Colwill’s talents may prove difficult, if not impossible – raising the question of how much Carlos Corberan is likely to miss the defender in the season to come. Thankfully, there is ample evidence at our fingertips to help answer that question.

On the face of things, the numbers are not brilliant. Town conceded just 0.86 goals per game in the 28 league games Colwill started (including the play-offs), but 1.19 goals per game in the 21 games where he did not start. Accordingly, their rate of clean sheets also improved: 0.46 per game with Colwill in the first XI, but down to 0.33 without him.

Strangely, though, Town made up for that at the other end, scoring almost exactly as many goals