Aidy Boothroyd believes Emyr Huws’ loan spell with the Cobblers will end with the midfielder going back to Manchester City an improved player.
Town secured something of a coup when they completed a deal to take the Welsh under-21 international and captain of the City elite development team to Sixfields until the January transfer window.
Huws is expected to go straight into the starting line-up, in central midfield, for the visit of Exeter City in npower League Two action on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
It is a fixture that will represent a substantial change from the type of football to which Huws has become accustomed, playing alongside and against youth internationals in some of the finest arenas in European football.
But Boothroyd believes the move will have solid benefits to the player’s long-term development.
“We’ll rough him up a little bit and we’ll send him back to Manchester City a better player for his experience of having been with us,” said the Cobblers boss.
“The youth and reserve-team set-ups at Premier League clubs are first class but sometimes players can improve themselves a lot by playing competitive, mens’ football.
“Sometimes they need the intensity of real football and he will certainly get that during his time with us.”
Huws’ transfer to Sixfields was a drawn-out one, with Boothroyd commenting during the process that the reasons for that would soon become clear.
One factor is that the player was negotiating a new contract with City, something that has now been signed and sealed.
And Boothroyd did not want to draft in a player for a month just to cover the injury to Ben Harding but make a signing who would see the club through to January, when Luke Guttridge will be fit too.
“Manchester City are a club that are really serious about dominating British football,” said Boothroyd. “And they don’t let a lot of their players go out on loan.
“The delay happened because of who we were dealing with, we wanted to make sure everything was right, that all the Is were dotted and the Ts were crossed.
“We didn’t want to bring in a player that would just come here for a month and be a quick fix, we wanted something a bit longer-term and that’s what we’ve got with Emyr.”
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