Sheffield Wednesday: How close is Barry Bannan to Owls return?

Midfield playmaker Barry Bannan is poised to be involved in the Owls Under-23s clash against Burnley on Monday.
Barry BannanBarry Bannan
Barry Bannan

The Scotland recently returned to full training after recovering from a long-standing hip injury and looks set to be given his first run-out in over three months. His last outing came in the 3-1 defeat at Norwich City on December 9.

Bannan’s energy and creativity have been sorely missed over the last 21 fixtures.

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Monday’s tussle will be staged at Curzon Aston FC, kick-off 7pm, and there is a possibility Bannan will be joined by Joost van Aken and Sam Hutchinson.

Van Aken and Hutchinson completed over an hour of the development squad’s home draw with Crewe Alexandra last Thursday.

Bannan’s return to action is a timely boost to Wednesday, who have gone five Championship matches without a victory.

Bannan is one of eight senior players yet to feature for Wednesday since Jos Luhukay’s appointment as manager at Hillsborough at the start of January.

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Luhukay has also been robbed of the services of key men such as Keiren Westwood, Kieran Lee, Gary Hooper and Fernando Forestieri.

It is likely Almen Abdi will be available for Saturday’s trip to Leeds United. The midfielder sat-out their draw with Bolton Wanderers because of an eye problem.

“He had something on his eye and the doctor told him that he couldn’t train and play for four days,” said Luhukay who expects him to be back in training in the next 48 hours.