Morecambe add Huddersfield Town midfielder on loan

The 21-year-old spent the first half of the campaign on loan at Harrogate Town following previous spells at Brighouse Town and Hyde United.

Austerfield, who joined the Terriers’ academy at the age of eight, progressed through the age groups before signing professionally as a 17-year-old in 2019.

He had played 23 times for Harrogate this season, including a Papa Johns Trophy outing against the Shrimps in October.

Morecambe boss Derek Adams said: “He’s a central midfield player, he’s had a lot of game time this season in League Two with Harrogate.

“He played against us in the Papa Johns Trophy game with Harrogate, he’s very good on the ball technically.

“He can either play in the six or an eight and he gives us added competition in the central midfield position which we need going into the remaining 19 games of the season.

“He signed a contract with Huddersfield to 2026, so they’ve got high hopes for him.

“He is developing all the time and, as we’ve done with all the loan players we’ve taken in, we’ve taken them in to develop not only for ourselves, but for the parent club as well.”

Austerfield is Morecambe’s fourth arrival of the January window, following the signings of Michael Mellon, Dynel Simeu and Dan Crowley.

He is also the sixth loanee on the club’s books, alongside Mellon, Simeu, Liam Shaw, Jensen Weir and Caleb Watts.

With a maximum of five loanees allowed in an EFL club’s matchday squad, one of them will miss out.