Exciting Sheffield Wednesday talents to get runout in 'bounce' game v Bolton Wanderers after injury
Sheffield Wednesday will be hoping to welcome players back to their U21 setup next week when they face Bolton Wanderers in a ‘bounce’ game.
It’s been a tough start to the season for the Owls’ youth side on the injury front, with a number of players having picked up knocks that have kept them out of action, and others heading out on loan as well, something that has dwindled their numbers further.
The situation has led to youngsters such as Caelan Cadamarteri and Will Grainger stepping up three or four years at Middlewood Road to play for the U18s, with the latter even making it onto the pitch for the U21s despite being only 15-years-old.
Andy Holdsworth was able to welcome Joey Phuthi back recently, however, after he underwent surgery not too long back, and he has explained that others such as Favour Onukwuli and Rio Shipston are also nearing a return to action.
"We’ve had a lot of injuries this year,” he told The Star. “Which is why we’ve been young across the board really. If you look at our U18s we’ve got four or five U16s in there, plus Caelan Cadamarteri from the U15s. It has a knock on effect with everything.
“You’ve got Cian (Flannery), you’ve got Gabe (Otegbayo), you’ve got George Brown, Rio Shipston, Jack Hall, Favour Onukwuli, Mackenzie Maltby - who have been injured, some are now out on loan. There has been a lot of injuries, and with those loan players going out there it has brung our squad size down overall…
“We’ve got a bounce game next week at Bolton to try and get some minutes for some of them. Rio will play, Joey (Phuthi) will play as he comes back to full fitness, Favour will play too, but that’s it for now in terms of the injuries.”
Wednesday’s U21s are only back in competitive action in a couple of weeks’ time when they take on Fleetwood Town away from home, and Holdsworth will no doubt be looking forward to seeing more of his players back out on the field when that time comes.