Ike Ugbo made his Sheffield Wednesday return in Wednesday evening’s Carabao Cup win at Hull City.

Newly-signed Sheffield Wednesday striker Ike Ugbo will be subject to a phasing-up of his fitness before he is thrown into contention for a place in the starting line-up, Danny Röhl has told The Star. The £2.5m signing completed his transfer from French club Troyes last week and made his second debut for the Owls in midweek, replacing Callum Paterson 79 minutes into their Carabao Cup win at Hull City.

That represented the first step in a programme designed to build up his conditioning. Ugbo was subject to a summer training programme put on by the City Group, the owners of Troyes, and spent time being put through his paces at Manchester City’s training complex. But while negotiations over his transfer rolled on throughout the summer, the Canada international was not party to any friendly outings.

Röhl has spoken about the need for intensity from his side and has put his players through a gruelling pre-season designed to guard against injury and ensure they are able to last the pace this season. Late arrival Ugbo will see his match minutes steadily increased in the coming matches, it seems.

“For Ike now it is about getting minutes and getting fitter and fitter,” Röhl said. “We had a similar situation in January when he first arrived, he has trained, but he now has to come into the next level because he missed six weeks. We have worked so hard with the group and you have seen how they can run and run until the end, this is fantastic. We will bring Ike into shape and we will see that as well.

“We will go step by step. Today he played 15 minutes game time, that was helpful and he came through. In the next couple of games he will get more and more minutes and we will see how much. The next point is the international break and it will be like a small pre-season for him, four or five weeks work.”

Young attacker Charlie McNeill became the latest Wednesday man to jump onto their list of early-season goalscorers with a brace at Hull. The signing of Jamal Lowe - who scored 35 minutes into his Wednesday debut against Plymouth over the weekend - takes a little of the pressure off rushing Ugbo into the side in the fashion he was brought in when arriving on loan back in January.

“You see the challenge at the moment,” Röhl continued. “We have different scorers at the moment which is great, six goals in two games with just one conceded goal. The direction is right, but we have just come through the first round and we have just three points. It is nothing in this league.”