Four debuts in eight days at Sheffield Wednesday.. five things that have been said

Debuts for teenagers Liam Waldock and Charles Hagan at Fulham brought the tally of brand new faces in the Sheffield Wednesday first team to four in just eight days.
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Ciaran Brennan and Conor Grant made their senior bows at Rochdale last week as Garry Monk continued to put his faith in the club’s raft of academy graduates.

The Owls boss delivered a debut to Liam Shaw last season and has offered increased game time to the likes of Alex Hunt and Matt Penney as well as bringing Fisayo Dele-Bashiru to the club.

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Here are just five things that have been said about Wednesday’s renewed faith in youth.

Charles Hagan made his Sheffield Wednesday first team bow at Fulham having trained with the seniors since the start of the season.Charles Hagan made his Sheffield Wednesday first team bow at Fulham having trained with the seniors since the start of the season.
Charles Hagan made his Sheffield Wednesday first team bow at Fulham having trained with the seniors since the start of the season.

Monk on development..

“The young lads getting experience is good. There are things they need to learn, but doing it in the games we’ve played, especially tonight against a Premier League side, against the type of players they were playing against, it’s a great experience for them.

“There are things to learn, but they’ll learn things through these experiences. I don’t play them just to get experience, we’re here to win the games, but inevitably there are going to be some naive moments, but overall I was pleased with them again.”

Monk on Liam Waldock..

“I thought he was excellent. Alex got a knock in training, nothing serious but we didn’t want to risk him. So Liam stepped up.

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“It was his first appearance and he was excellent, good movement, energy, he was good with the ball, he made some intelligent runs.

“He’s another one that has potential. All of those young lads will learn from that game.”

Liam Waldock on life around the first team..

“As a young player at Sheffield Wednesday, you’ve always got a chance here.

“They [senior players] have helped massively, not just in the game but in training. They always come up to me and talk to me about my game and how I can improve.

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“They’re always there in the game shouting at me, communicating with me, which not only helps me but all the young players that are playing.

“I always want to play for Sheffield Wednesday, they’re my club, I’ve always supported them. Hopefully tonight I’ve shown some bits to the gaffer so that he knows he can trust me in the future.”

Tom Lees on the new faces..

“The best thing about them is that they’re all really good lads, so when they come and train with us and those that have been with us from the start, you want them to do well.

“They’ve had to get up to that level of what training with the first team is because when they first came in, you see it with some boys, the session might break down on them.

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“But it’s not the case and when they’ve had the chance they’ve really taken it.

“I’m pleased for them because we’ve all been in that position at some point or other in our career.”

Monk on Charles Hagan..

“Some of the young lads are a little further ahead than others. He’s another one that has potential, he has energy but he needs a lot of work.

“He came on for 10 minutes to give us that energy and he did that.

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“Some of them need more work than others, but that’s the normal process.”

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