Alex Miller: New boy Callum Paterson is a big Scottish prototype for the new Sheffield Wednesday
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In these perilous times Josh Windass had just been added for a fee believed to be in the region of £500,000 and with expert diplomacy, Monk puffed his cheeks a little and spoke with the body language that suggested the answer was: ‘Probably not.’
“I don’t think it’s a situation where we’re able to do what’s been done in the past," he said. “But I’m sure as the chairman has always done, if there’s a situation where he feels he can support it then he will do.
“It’s a case of adjusting you plan.”
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Hide AdEnter Callum Paterson, for a fee believed to be somewhere around that half-a-million mark. The situation was found and the club have responded.
Young? Tick. Hungry? Double-tick? Dynamic? Tickerooni. Add the physicality Monk has been honest in describing his side have so sorely missed so far this season and the Scotland international is basically a prototype for the Garry Monk way in the new Sheffield Wednesday.
There’ll be a transition of course; Paterson has spent three years playing in a very different set-up to that being forged at Hillsborough.
Will he score 25 goals this season? No. Is his impact guaranteed and instant? It never is. But he’s a threat the Owls don’t have, a powerful and versatile addition with a jaw your fist would crumble on and who can play in some of the side’s problem positions.
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Hide AdThe slightly drawn-out nature of the deal means this writer had the time to seek out one or two people that have come across Paterson before and unlike most signings you speak about, the feedback was unanimously positive, with one attribute at the forefront; his desire.
That is the buzzword Monk appears to be building this Wednesday side around. And shopping deep in the bargain buckets of the Championship supermarket, he and his recruitment team appear to have done a fine job thus far.
Walking away from that conversation at Walsall it was felt any additions to the Owls squad would be bordering on insignificant. This one feels anything but.