Details spilt on George Byers’ ongoing injury as vital Sheffield Wednesday pair are cleared for Exeter City trip

But George Byers’ six match absence from Sheffield Wednesday involvement looks set to be stretched to seven matches after Darren Moore ruled the influential midfielder out of Saturday’s trip to Exeter City.

The news will prompt some head-scratching from the Owls fanbase given Byers’ foot issue was said to be minor and that it had been hoped he could have made a return in mid-November.

In conversation with The Star, Wednesday boss Darren Moore spoke candidly on the issue and why there has been such stop-start frustration.

“He sustained a foot injury and every time we’ve got him close and he’s stepped back on the pitch, he’s put a certain amount of pressure and movement on it and he’s not quite been happy with it,” Moore said.

“Sometimes he’s done a good bit of work and it’s looked promising, but the next day he’s felt sore or had some discomfort and he’s not been happy.

“With those dynamics, he’s not felt 100% and that’s down to the player.

“He’s just not been able to quite get there. He’s out there, I could look out onto the pitch now and he’s out there doing some work. But now we have to wait and see if he wakes up in the morning and feels alright on it. That would be great and would mean he’s another stage on.”

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The good news is that attacking pair Josh Windass and Lee Gregory are fit to make a return to add attacking threat to a side that has scored twice in their last three outings.

But Byers’ recovery will be guided by the player, Moore said, as Wednesday continue to carefully monitor their handling of injuries.

“A large proportion of it will be down to his threshold,” he said. “If he feels great then happy days, if he feels he doesn’t want to feel so much discomfort then we have to respect that.

“We’ll keep nursing him. What we want to see is him back in the team and once we do that and we feel he’s at a level training with the group, then that’s when we’ll start making plans for him to come back in the team.

“He could be back in with the group next week. I can understand the frustration because they want to see George and we know the role he plays for the team, but also we want to see a fit George Byers to be effective and at the moment he doesn’t feel he’s quite up to that level yet.”

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Asked what exactly the midfielder has done in terms of damage, Moore reported a relatively minor but painful issue that he hasn’t quite been able to shake.

“In one of the muscles in his foot he had a really small tear,” he said. “It’s been about getting that to heal back. We had a course of injections for that to settle down which it has.

“Have we tried it too quick too soon? Have we put too much volume on it too soon? He’s always been close to coming back but always not quite there.

“Hopefully over the next few days we can find that response and he’ll feel he’s able to get back in it.”