Injury update on Sheffield Wednesday summer signing who is yet to feature
One summer signings has not played in pre-season
The wait to see new addition Ricardo Santos in a Sheffield Wednesday shirt for the first time goes on.
The 31-year-old defender was The Owls’ first summer signing, joining for a fee from Championship Swansea City, penning a one-year deal with a club option of a further 12 months. The powerful centre-back has a wealth of League One experience, reaching the play-offs three times with Bolton Wanderers, making almost 200 appearances in the division, and having been named in the PFA Team of the Year four seasons in a row. Ian Evatt, who was his manager at Bolton, described him as the ‘best defender’ in the league.
Unfortunately, his time at Swansea was disrupted by a knee injury suffered during his first pre-season and he only made one appearance, before switching to Hillsborough this summer. The centre-half was wanted by Wednesday in the past when Darren Moore was manager. The Portuguese has also played for Peterborough United and Barnet.
Wednesday’s pre-season campaign is now over and Santos is yet to feature. He was once again absent from the matchday squads against Accrington Stanley and Oldham Athletic on Saturday. The Owls face his old club Bolton this Saturday in the Carabao Cup first round.
When asked for an update on Santos, Pedersen told The Star: “He trained three times this week, but he had a feeling it was still too early to come on the pitch today in a game. So I hope next week we can see most of him on the training (pitch).”
Although Santos won promotion with Bolton from League Two, he narrowly missed out on going up from League One three times, so the centre-back is keen to finally tick that achievement off.
“It would mean everything, man,” he told The Star. “I was looking for that at Bolton and when I was there I was trying three years in a row to get into the play-offs. We didn’t do what we wanted to do there but now with a big club like this, pushing on and getting promoted means everything to me. I think that's one thing in my career I want to achieve. Helping a big club like this get back to where they should be.
“One thing I'll say about that is there was a lot of pressure from the fans, which is normal. The fans want as much success as we do. When you've been in the position before, in the Premier League, there's expectations. The players know that, I know that. I've been in the game a long time now. We just need to work hard, stick to the project and just look forward.”
Speaking about almost joining Wednesday in the past, he added: “It was when Darren Moore was here. Two seasons in a row, I think. I just couldn't get out of Bolton at the time. I was the captain and stuff, I had a good relationship with the manager there. I think I was loyal for too long!”