{"id":650687,"date":"2025-01-17T14:22:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T19:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=650687"},"modified":"2025-01-17T14:22:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T19:22:16","slug":"oxford-united-sign-poland-defender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2025\/01\/17\/oxford-united-sign-poland-defender\/","title":{"rendered":"Oxford United Sign Poland Defender"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oxford United<\/a> have boosted their defence with the arrival of Huddersfield centre-back, Michal Helik.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old has reportedly signed a two-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee.<\/p>\n

Oxford United Sign Michal Helik<\/h2>\n

Defensive Reinforcement<\/h3>\n

Adding a defender was a critical part of the transfer window for Oxford United, having lost Leicester loanee Ben Nelson to a long term injury and skipper Elliott Moore has also been sidelined.<\/p>\n

In the last couple of games, Sam Long has been deployed in the middle but he was forced off in the first half against Plymouth, while fringe player Jordan Thorniley has also picked up minutes.<\/p>\n

As a result, the depth in that area is weak, so much so that Stephan Negru has been recalled from his loan spell at Salford as a precaution.<\/p>\n

But the arrival of Helik will add some vital experience to the backline. The Poland international has been a mainstay for Barnsley and Huddersfield in the second-tier over the last four seasons but suffered relegation with the Terriers in the summer.<\/p>\n

What Was Said<\/h3>\n

Speaking about his excitement at joining United, he said<\/a>: \u201cI am joining this club because I can see the ambition. This is the right place for me because there is a drive to improve and that matches my ambition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have come here with the aim of helping to keep Oxford United in the Championship this season. We should always aim higher, and I will do my best every day to win for the club and push us further up the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am experienced but also very hungry to learn and improve every day. I am ready to fight for this badge and I want to achieve our goals together. I am still improving, the best is yet to come from me.”<\/p>\n

Gary Rowett added: \u201cMicha\u0142\u202fhas been one of the most dominant defenders in the Championship over the last four years. Each season at Barnsley and Huddersfield he has showcased his ability as a quality central defender. It\u2019s fantastic for the Club to welcome a player of his pedigree into the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cMicha\u0142\u202fhas been playing regular football for Huddersfield this season, showing his leadership as captain on a number of occasions. It\u2019s a real positive for me as a Head Coach to know we are bringing in a player who can affect the starting XI straight away. We are excited to work alongside Micha\u0142\u202fgoing forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oxford United have boosted their defence with the arrival of Huddersfield centre-back, Michal Helik. The 29-year-old has reportedly signed a two-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee. Oxford United Sign Michal Helik Defensive Reinforcement Adding a defender was a critical part of the transfer window for Oxford United, having lost Leicester loanee Ben Nelson to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":335,"featured_media":650690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8430,33,32,1266],"tags":[7214],"class_list":["post-650687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oxford-united","category-championship","category-league-football","category-huddersfield-town","tag-michal-helik"],"modified_by":"Dale Ventham, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/335"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650687"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":650747,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650687\/revisions\/650747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}