'Exciting' - Sheffield Wednesday might offer Zain Silcott-Duberry the opportunity to live up to the hype
Sheffield Wednesday are poised to fill their free agent slot with Zain Silcott-Duberry.
With just one free agent slot available, Sheffield Wednesday and Henrik Pedersen understandably want to get it right.
Following Yan Valery’s loan move to Swiss club BSC Young Boys last week, a slot in Wednesday’s squad became available for them to fill for the remainder of the season.
Having operated under a mountain of restrictions, including a fee-restriction ban, this season, Wednesday have become used to scanning the free agent market for help. Liam Cooper, Nathan Redmond, who has since left the club, and Marvelous Nakamba have all arrived on free transfers since the beginning of November.
With one slot still available to be filled, former Chelsea and Bournemouth youngster Zain Silcott-Duberry is poised to claim it. The versatile attacker, who was last contracted to Greek club Olympiakos, has trained with the Owls at Middlewood Road recently, giving Pedersen and his coaching staff the opportunity to run the rule over him.
Asked about the club’s interest in the 20-year-old after last Saturday’s defeat to Millwall at Hillsborough, Pedersen told The Star: “We have not made any decision now, we have seen him three days in training, and now we have this game behind us, we'll make a decision on what we will do.
“So we have not made any final decision.”
On the importance of the Owls making the right decision, he added: “We are watching a lot of players, but free agents, and to find something, it has to make sense to do something. So we are using a lot of time to make the right decision.”
With the Redmond experiment having unfortunately failed, Wednesday cannot be criticised for taking their time with this decision. Some will inevitably argue it does not matter who they sign because the club could be relegated to League One as soon as this weekend, but with the club having an obligation to pay the chosen free agent’s wage, they will want to ensure they get the best value for their money.
With the club still in administration, every penny is being watched closer than ever. The takeover process is still ongoing and nobody can offer an answer on how long it may be before the situation reaches its conclusion.
With The Star of the understanding Wednesday are poised to sign Silcott-Duberry, almost certainly on a deal until the end of the season, he will strengthen their attacking options.
Silcott-Dubbery has commanded attention in the past
The Hackney-born attacker is considered as a versatile attacker, capable of playing out wide and through the middle, and it is no secret Wednesday need more in an attacking sense amid a run of one goal in their last 11 matches in league and cup.
Silcott-Duberry is a graduate of Chelsea’s academy, meaning he is not without talent in his locker, and he earned a place in The Guardian’s ‘Next Generation 2021: 20 of the best talents at Premier League clubs’ feature five years ago. The national newspaper runs the feature every year, picking out some of the Premier League’s brightest young talents to keep a watchful eye on.
Selected as Chelsea’s youngster to watch out for in 2021, journalist Jacob Steinberg wrote: “It is not easy to stand out at Cobham. Chelsea’s academy has become the place to be following the emergence of Mason Mount, Reece James, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Tammy Abraham, Billy Gilmour and Fikayo Tomori.
“But the past summer was intriguing, with several rising stars deciding to leave Chelsea. The outgoings raised eyebrows and it will be interesting to see how the younger intake respond.
“There are still plenty of opportunities to progress and Silcott-Duberry, an exciting and versatile attacker, is one to watch. Born in Hackney, he made his debut for the under-18s earlier this year and has represented England at youth level.”
Five years on, it is fair to say Silcott-Duberry’s career has not followed the same pattern as the likes of Reece James, Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham, leaving Chelsea to join Bournemouth and then moving to Greece.
However, at just 20 years of age, Silcott-Duberry still has plenty of time on his side to turn his fortunes around and make a career for himself in England. Wednesday have done some good work with youngsters this season - both loanees and some of their own academy graduates - and that could convince the former Chelsea man that he could put some roots down at Hillsborough.
Having twice invited him to Middlewood Road, Wednesday have clearly seen something in Silcott-Duberry. They are unlikely to land a big-name free agent at this point in the season, and they have scoured various markets to try and find an answer.
With their search not having led them to anyone else, signing Silcott-Duberry, who might become part of their plans for next season depending on how the next couple months go, makes plenty of sense.