Sheffield Wednesday boss admits they may be forced into transfer action after latest injury blow

Darren Moore confirmed over the weekend that Ihiekwe is going to be out for the remainder of the year and into 2023 after sustaining a knee injury in the FA Cup win over Mansfield Town, with the centre back joining Ben Heneghan on the injury list.

The latest setback meant that Reece James and Liam Palmer were used as central defenders in the 0-0 Derby County draw, and while Akin Famewo returned to the matchday squad on Saturday it’s still an area that they don’t want to end up short in.

"It's an area that we'll look at,” Moore admitted afterwards. “We’ll come together next week me and my recruitment team… Football ebbs and flows, and this last week it’s done that. The result that came back with Icky is one that we didn’t expect.

“We’ve got Akin back, so in terms of out-and-out centre backs we’ve got Akin, Dom (Iorfa) and Macca (Mark McGuinness) – we’ve also got the versatility of James and Palmer. So there’s adequate cover, but we don’t want to lose any more.

“Losing Icky for a little while is a disappointing one for us. He'll be out for couple of months at least. It's a knee ligament injury so he's going to be out for a while.”

Wednesday’s next game sees them travel down to Exeter City as they look to extend their eight-game unbeaten run, and Moore will be left with another choice to make in defence as they await the January transfer window.

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