Reece James back at Sheffield Wednesday... why not?
Reece James was named as a trialist for Sheffield Wednesday in their pre-season friendly against Accrington Stanley
Bar a bit of fisticuffs involving young Charlie McNeill and Accrington Stanley’s Devon Matthews right at the end, there won’t be much to remember from the first part of Sheffield Wednesday’s pre-season double-header in the north west.
With Oldham up next in the afternoon, Henrik Pedersen still took a strong side to the Wham Stadium and included recently returned Yan Valery in the starting line-up, with Liam Cooper adding further experience to what was a squad on the younger side.
But there was someone else, too.
Many of the 1,400 fans who made the trip - quite a number were headed straight to Oldham after the final whistle of an uneventful 90 minutes blew - will have done a double-take when they watched the players warm-up ahead of the early kick off.
The teamsheet read ‘Trialist A’ wearing number 3. He looked very familiar.
Reece James it was revealed, has been back at the club this week on a training brief, similar to that undertaken by Cameron Dawson, as he looks for a club for the new campaign.
James had been at Bradford for a few weeks and even went away on their pre-season trip, with expectations that he was heading for West Yorkshire.
As things stand, that doesn’t appear to be happening and James has been with Wednesday since midweek.
So, what happens next?
Wednesday are still in need of a left back, with very little cover for Max Lowe, though arguably, at a push, Sal Swinkels could play in there if they were desperate.
Bringing back James, the man who scored the crucial third goal in that ‘Miracle of Hillsborough’ win over Peterborough United, wouldn’t be seen as the sexiest signing in the world and it’s fair to say he’s hardly pulled up any trees since leaving S6 for Rotherham a few seasons ago.
However, while we all know not to take too much notice of pre-season, there were moments against Accrington were many will have thought ‘we could do a lot worse, you know...’
Still only 32, James played the full 90 minutes at the ground not far from where he gew up in Bacup, and he certainly looked. More importantly, he looked sharp.
Defensively he was excellent and going forward even better, overlapping well with Harry Gray who had spent the majority of the first half out on that side.
Fundamentally James has plenty of pedigree in the level Wednesday will play in next season.
He’s a graduate of Manchester United’s academy and has featured for the likes of Wigan, Sunderland, Blackpool and of course Wednesday before.
We all know that money is tight at Hillsborough and a fair few of the new faces still to be brought in will be loans and more often than not, that means youth and with it inexperience.
Henrik Pedersen still needs to have a bit more nous around the place for this is already a very youthful squad, containing quite a few who were thrown in at the deep end in last season’s horror show.
There was just one glimpse of what James can bring, in the first half, outside of his actual play.
He played a ball down the line to Gray who slipped on the prestine surface as he attempted to quickly turn his marker. The young forward felt a bit sorry for himself and lay on the ground a little longer than he should.
That reaction was met by a bark from James: “Come on, get up, go again, go again, come on!”
It wasn’t much but it was an example of the type of player Pedersen will want and indeed need as he looks to navigate a long and arduous League One season.
There may well be other options available to the recruitment team, but right now Reece James is a player they would be silly to let go without having a very good look at.