Sheffield Wednesday leave players hanging as they wait on future talks

It’s the time of year where players in the youth structures at Middlewood Road worry about whether they need to be on the hunt for a new club, and it’s no doubt a period riddled with anxiety given the ramifications of a negative decision.

The Star understands that Andy Holdsworth’s side were all told to come in on Tuesday where they would be told what lies ahead for them, but were then informed at the 11th-hour that the meetings would instead take place the following day – because they hadn’t yet been signed off by chairman, Dejphon Chansiri.

Many young Wednesday players will be moving on when their current contracts expire at the end of June, and while those who are leaving will have an inkling as to how their conversation will go, a prolonged wait for a definitive answer will certainly not be welcomed.

Sheffield Wednesday’s next generation

Speaking on the matter of the U21s last week, Röhl told The Star, “We had the meeting at the beginning of the week, we spoke about the squad for the U21s for the next week… It was a topic about who could potentially be a part of our squad in the pre-season. I said this before, it should always be the case that we always have three players from the academy with us, especially in pre-season, to see how far off they are.

“These are the talks we have to have. The picture is clear for the U21s, they all have to do something of course. Some players have to go, some players we will keep or we have to loan them to see where is the development. All these things we will do and then make final decisions for a lot of things in the next weeks.”

A number of lifelong Owls, some of whom have been at the club since they were young children, will have to look to pastures new for the 2025/26 season – it’s the nature of the beast. But an extended wait when you’ve psyched yourself up for that conversation can’t be much fun.

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