Sheffield Wednesday boss explains Nico Schulz presence at Middlewood Road

The Star reported on Wednesday that the 30-year-old full back was present at the Owls' Middlewood Road training ground as question marks remain over his future, however it was unknown whether he was there with a view to potentially signing or if it was just a case of training for fitness.

Schulz has been a free agent since July when his contract with Dortmund was terminated, and not much has been said about what was on the horizon for him until he turned up at S6.

“He is in training with us, he’s a training guest," Röhl explained. "At the moment it’s just training, and then we’ll see. For me it was more important that I had my team training good - he was a part of the group and that’s it…

“It makes no sense to speak about the personal things of a player when he’s not actually signed with Sheffield Wednesday. He’s training and that’s the situation at the moment.”

According to reports in the German media Schulz is set to appear in court next week after charges of grievous bodily harm were approved – though he's presumed innocent until proven guilty... Judge Michael Tebbe said it was ‘about suspicion of grievous bodily harm’ with regards to the proceedings that are set to begin on February 28th. He has previously denied criminal charges against him.

In August 2022, a former girlfriend of Schulz filed a complaint against him for domestic violence. And he has been charged with aggravated assault dating back to 2020 as per the Dortmund public prosecutor's office to German news agency, SID.

Wednesday and other clubs in the EFL can add free agents to their squad list until the fourth Thursday in March at 5pm, after which they will have to use the players already at the club.