Terriers new boy Callum Marshall is hoping to make a big impact after signing from West Ham
Huddersfield Town loan signing Callum Marshall is hoping to play his part in a promotion challenge with his new club this season. The 19-year-old joined Town on a season-long loan from West Ham United at the back end of last week, with the striker becoming the Terriers’ fifth signing of the summer.
The loanee got his Town career off to the ideal start on Tuesday night, netting a goal on debut in his side’s 3-0 victory against Morecambe in the Carabao Cup. Marshall is set to spend the upcoming campaign with a side who are targeting an immediate return to the Championship, and the forward hopes he can help the club to achieve its aim this season.
“I knew that coming here, there was an expectation to be up challenging to get promoted,” the recruit said at a press conference on Monday. “Hopefully I’m in a team challenging for promotion, and I’m getting games under my belt, so whenever I do go back to West Ham, I can be seen as a more experienced player than when I left.
“The games come thick and fast at this level, so hopefully I can just get as many games under my belt, stay injury free, and hopefully have a great season. The main thing that I’ve been brought in for is to score goals, that’s my job as a striker. I think over the last couple of years, that’s what’s got me the loans that I have, showing that I can score goals (at academy level), so hopefully I can bring that up here as well.”
Marshall is embarking on the second loan spell of his career with the Terriers, having spent the second half of last season on loan at West Bromwich Albion. However, with the Baggies having been pushing for promotion to the Premier League last term, Marshall was limited to just three substitute appearances during his time at the Hawthorns, and the forward acknowledged that the loan spell didn’t go as he’d hoped.
“It probably didn’t go to plan, I just have to take it on the chin and move on,” the striker said. “Up at West Brom, all the lads were perfect with me, and just being around the first-team environment and stuff, it was my first time with that, and I thought that it could work well, and I got on well with the lads.
“I knew going up there, whether it worked or whether it didn’t, it would still be an experience that when I look back later in my career, hopefully I’ve learned something and it can help me push on in other challenges.”
Marshall has had a glimpse of senior football during his career to date, having made four appearances for Linfield and also been capped four times by Northern Ireland, while the striker made his Hammers’ first-team debut in an FA Cup tie at Bristol City in January. With the forward now set to get a season of League One football under his belt, the 19-year-old is gearing up for the challenge of coming up against much more experienced opponents.
“You’re playing against men, I’m not playing against people my age. I’m going to be playing against 33-year-old massive centre-backs that are going to be heading me, kicking me, anything they can,” Marshall said. “I know that’s going to be the challenging bit, but hopefully I can still score my goals and affect games, where maybe I can avoid the challenge and get there before them, that’s the plan anyway.
“If I’m up against some six-foot-four centre-back, I’m not going to want to be going for a header with him, but if I have to I have to. I’ll try and find other ways around it. I’m going to have to at some point take a couple of hits, which I’m ready for.”