Sheffield Wednesday ready to lay down a marker against Wigan Athletic

The Owls face the Latics, who romped to the League One title last campaign, at the DW Stadium this Saturday.

Fox, a £700,000 capture from Charlton Athletic in January 2017, told The Star: "Wigan are a newly-promoted team so it is going to be a tough start.

"We have seen in this league that everyone can beat everyone.

"We need to go to Wigan and put a marker down."

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It has been a quiet summer at Hillsborough, with Wednesday having not brought in any new signings. Their lack of transfer activity has led to unconfirmed reports the club have been placed under a transfer embargo by the English Football League for breaching Financial Fair Play rules.

Owls chief Jos Luhukay has repeatedly refused to confirm or deny the embargo claims and there has been no official statement from the club. The EFL have also refused to comment on the matter.

But regardless of whether Wednesday have the ability or not to bolster their options, Fox has backed the team to perform well.

He said: “There has not been a lot of change this summer but we know what we have got in this group.

“We have a brilliant amount of talent.

“Everyone knows how good the squad is. You just have to look at the players we have got on our books.

“We have a great squad. We didn’t get into two play-offs for no reason.”

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After successive play-off finishes, the Owls underachieved in finishing 15th in 2017/18. And Fox is desperate for there to be no repeat of those struggles this time around.

"We don't want it to be anything like last season," he said. "We want to improve and get back to the level we were at before."

Following the Wigan clash, Luhukay's side host Hull City. Their August fixture programme also consists of a trip to Brentford and back-to-back home duels with Millwall and Ipswich Town.

Fox, who has been utilised at centre-half and as a left wing back by Luhukay in pre-season, said: "Let's see how we go in the first few months. We've got a big first few games coming up.

"Wigan away will be tough as they have just come up to the league so obviously are going to be flying. We need to show how strong we are."

*Ross Wallace is still searching for a new club following a trial spell at Wigan. The wide man, a free agent, having been released by Wednesday at the end of last season, trained with the Latics all summer and featured in two of their friendlies but has moved on after not managing to earn a permanent contract.

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