Four Sheffield Wednesday players switch dressing rooms in big indication of future
Four young Sheffield Wednesday players have been handed major in-house recognition - and have been graduated from academy status to that of the first team.
The Owls have been reliant on the fast upward trajectories of many of their academy youngsters this season, with rampant cuts to the first team having been made necessary by Dejphon Chansiri’s continued failures at the top of the club. Their escapades in Carabao Cup outings have provided a small silver lining to a difficult start to the campaign, with the likes of Ernie Weaver and Reece Johnson having graduated to Championship football from the bench.
Senior training at Middlewood Road has seen up to a dozen young players at a time and now, four academy starlets have been brought into the first team fold on a more formal basis.
The set-up at the Owls training ground sees first team and academy players based in separate changing rooms and for many years, the moving of a youngster into the senior space on a longer-term basis has been seen as a marked moment in a Wednesday player’s career. It’s a significant moment that signals a change in status within the club. Sean Fusire and Gabriel Otegbayo both made the switch last season.
The Star understands that Weaver, Johnson, goalkeeper Logan Stretch and midfield man Jarvis Thornton have all been handed the accolade after weeks of good work on the training ground. With a gruelling fixture schedule ahead, the quartet are among those leading the way and are expected to pick up Championship minutes as the season goes on.
“This week we took four young players and moved them into the dressing room,” manager Henrik Pedersen told The Star. “They will get more playing time, of course they will. We can not play with 11 men with 23 or 24 games still to go until Christmas. Tuesday will be another game when a lot of the younger guys will get more game time. Those four are in the dressing room now with the first team, so they are a fixed part of the first team.”
Wednesday’s threadbare squad welcome Grimsby Town to Hillsborough on Saturday, with a youthful side expected to include the newly-anointed foursome hoping to continue their coupon-bucking efforts and earn a place in the fourth round.