Mystery absence of Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper explained

The talented teenager, who is being fought over by both England and Northern Ireland at youth level, has progress well up the ranks at Hillsborough – playing a vital role in their strong FA Youth Cup run.

But the 17-year-old missed the win over Leicester City’s U18s last month, and – despite attending – wasn’t in the squad for the 2-1 defeat to Cambridge United last week, with Jack Hall starting once again and Jack Phillips sitting on the bench.

It was also noted that Charles, who has spent plenty of time with Darren Moore’s first team, wasn’t on the bench at Wycombe Wanderers when David Stockdale picked up a minor back issue in January, and there had been no word on why he’d been missing.

Now though, it’s been revealed that the exciting youth international has been dealing with a finger injury that has kept him out of action, however he could be back in action before the month is out.

“He did his finger,” Moore told The Star when asked about Charles. “I think he dislocated his finger, but he’s not far from being back now. A couple of weeks and I think he’ll be back.”

Wednesday’s U18s were knocked out of the Youth Cup but still have lofty ambitions in the Professional Development League as they begin to work through their games in hand – though things didn’t go well over the weekend as they were beaten 2-0 by league leaders, Barnsley.

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