From 'OK to leave' to integral status inside a whirlwind month at Sheffield Wednesday

The Sheffield Wednesday centre-half spent Christmas and New Year faced with the very real possibility that he might be spending the rest of the season at a new club, with The Star understanding he was one of a handful of senior Owls players told that if an agreeable offer were to come in for his signing, he would be allowed to leave.

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By January 19 he was lining up at Elland Road in one of the biggest games on Wednesday’s fixture card. It was his first league start for the club since September and for a whopping 113 days. He’s started every game since.

“We have some of these examples in the last 16 months,” Owls boss Danny Röhl told The Star. “You think someone is far away but then they come back. With Icky it is about mentality, these players have the mentality. I try to be honest and I was honest with Icky at the end of December and beginning of January about his place. He accepted this - but he worked very hard and then the situation comes.

“You have to be ready for the day you can deliver. Icky helps us, he is an experienced one and you need that in the group. He can teach players, I want to see improvement from players. The balance is important.”

Injuries have mounted and now Ihiekwe stands as the only available recognised centre-half of senior status as Middlewood Road. It’s not the first time the former Liverpool academy man has fought back from the brink to play a key role in an Owls season - last term saw him overlooked by Xisco and then initially Röhl before returning to make 16 starts in 19 matches that saw momentum build behind their unlikely survival effort in the second half of the season.

The 32-year-old, into the final year of his contract with the club, has stepped back in to good impact and sits highly in a number of defensive metrics - his aerial duel win rate of 4.3 per 90 is by some distance the best in the Wednesday squad, as is his clearance rate (5.8 per 90) and blocks (1.1 per 90). With news of a serious injury to Di’Shon Bernard, his presence is likely to continue to be a hugely important factor in the coming weeks and months.

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Asked by The Star what the nature of his conversations were with Ihiekwe at the turn of the year, Röhl didn’t go into detail but made clear enough just where he had sat in the thinking heading into January.

“You can imagine,” the Owls boss said. “He didn’t play so much, but the picture was clear for me and he got a clear picture. In the last 16 months I have had to have a lot of conversations where I have had to tell some players of their situation. But it is always that in football these things can happen and it is about what I expect from them, what I demand. You have to carry on. He agreed and I think the players appreciate these talks, that I am honest with them.

“That makes it easier to bring them back, or if they know their role, they understand that ‘OK I am not in the squad, but I know my role and I have to keep going to wait for the next situation.’ This is OK.”