Sheffield Wednesday boss is about to face a dilemma with no obvious answer
Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen now has the luxury of having squad depth available to him.
After being starved of options last season, Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen now finds himself facing a rather different problem: selection dilemmas.
A transformative summer transfer window saw Wednesday bring in 18 new signings, with the club’s recruitment drive concluding last week with the loan arrival of Wrexham attacker Davis Keillor-Dunn after an agreement was struck late on deadline day.
The former Barnsley and Mansfield Town forward was thrown straight into the starting XI last Saturday, leading the line as Wednesday edged past Peterborough United at the Weston Homes Stadium to climb to the League One summit.
Alongside Jaden Heskey and Kieran Morrison, Keillor-Dunn was one of three loanees Pedersen included in his starting XI, with the Dane freshening things up in midfield to give Heskey his first start since returning to the club on loan from Manchester City a few days earlier.
Fellow loanees Mason Burstow and Ali Al-Hamadi were also included in the matchday squad, starting on the bench, meaning Pedersen filled each of the five spots available to loan players on a matchday.
Harry Gray is the sixth loanee Wednesday currently have on their books. The versatile attacker arrived from Leeds United in July and started each of the Owls’ first four matches in league and cup this season.
However, he has missed each of the last three matches due to concussion protocol after suffering a head injury in the latter stages of the Owls’ 2-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup at Hillsborough just over a fortnight ago. It is understood he will be available for selection again for Saturday’s clash with Wigan Athletic at Hillsborough.
With that expectation in mind, Pedersen, for the first time this season, is going to find himself with six loanees battling for the five spots available in the matchday squad, and it is a dilemma that will not be easy for him to solve.
Wednesday, of course, had no option but to bring players in by the lorry load during the summer as they set about the challenge of rebuilding what had become a skeleton squad. Over the course of a 46-game league campaign, you require a deep squad to manage fitness loads, deal with injuries, handle suspensions and cope with whatever else you can think of.
It is about much more than just 11 starters.
However, that is unlikely to make the task of leaving one of the six loanees out of the squad any easier for Pedersen, who will have countless members of his squad banging on his door in pursuit of a starting berth every week.
Heskey, Morrison, Gray, Burstow, Al-Hamadi and Keillor-Dunn have all arrived at Hillsborough with the ambition of securing regular game time and making their mark. Heskey and Morrison have arrived from two of the Premier League’s big hitters, checking in from City and Liverpool, respectively, and both clubs will want them to bank as many minutes as possible to build their experience levels.
Gray, Burstow and Al-Hamadi, too, have arrived from Premier League clubs, while Keillor-Dunn has checked in from Championship side Wrexham. Keillor-Dunn has an impressive record in League One, and Wednesday will be hoping to lean on that to strengthen their chances of earning an immediate return to the second tier this season.
Meanwhile, Burstow scored 12 League One goals on loan at Bolton last season, while Al-Hamadi, who made an impressive impact against Peterborough last weekend, was on loan at this level with Luton Town during the second half of last season.
Five of Wednesday’s six loanees are attackers, of course, meaning competition is strong in that area of the pitch. In midfield, though, Wednesday are not quite as blessed with numbers, meaning Heskey is the most likely of the six to be guaranteed a place in the matchday squad week in, week out.
That will leave Morrison, Gray, Burstow, Al-Hamadi and Keillor-Dunn competing for the four remaining spots. With Louie Barry currently absent, Morrison and Gray are options who can cover the left flank.
Keillor-Dunn and Burstow can also play out wide if called upon, but they are more suited to playing through the middle.
As challenging as it will be for Pedersen to solve this puzzle and deliver the disappointing news to one of his six loanees pre-match, it is a decision he is going to have to make. From the outside looking in, though, it looks like it will be incredibly difficult for him.