How Sheffield Wednesday plan to accelerate Will Vaulks fitness push – full injury round-up

The Owls take on La Liga side Rayo Vallecano at Hillsborough on Wednesday before making the trip over the Pennines to League One champions Wigan Athletic on Saturday in the match that will end their summer fixture run.

But Darren Moore revealed the club will continue to mould the fitness of his squad with an in-house friendly in which Will Vaulks will be given the opportunity to press his case in involvement in the season opener against Portsmouth on July 30.

The Wales international is yet to pull on a Wednesday match shirt as he continues his recovery from a quad issue.

Vaulks sat out of much of the Owls’ six-day training camp over in the Algarve but was able to play a part later in the week as staff upped the intensity of his workload as days went on.

Speaking after their 2-1 friendly defeat to Bournemouth, Moore seemed optimistic over the timescale of the recovery of the Wales international.

“He's back full training on Monday which is really, really good,” he said. “We've got a game against Rayo Vallecano, we've got a game against Wigan and probably an in-house match.

“So that's probably still three matches we feel before the start of the season. We feel that is enough game time, match minutes and training volume to get in him before the start of the season.

“We think that will be fine. He's been doing a lot of work with the sports scientists on his own, so he's up and mobile. He's a real fit boy and we look forward to having him back with the group on Monday.”

Elsewhere in the squad, a handful of senior players – Michael Smith, Jack Hunt, Marvin Johnson and Akin Famewo – all sat out of that Bournemouth clash but Moore showed little sign of concern over their respective recoveries, detailing the fact that their absences were down to tightness rather than any injury knock or tweak.

Callum Paterson passed the threshold of concussion protocols during the Portugal trip and otherwise the club have come out of the training camp unscathed.