Sheffield Wednesday wait on Pierce Charles surgery fate with Northern Ireland curiosity explained
Sheffield Wednesday and Pierce Charles are waiting on further medical advice on whether or not a shoulder injury requires surgery, with the Owls having confirmed his spell on the sidelines despite a curious international call-up.
The talented young goalkeeper appeared to suffer the injury during the Owls’ Carabao Cup success at Bolton Wanderers last week, but with no other options between the posts played in the weekend’s defeat to Stoke City. On Thursday morning Wednesday confirmed the issue, with the club looking to add Cardiff City stopper Ethan Horvath as cover on loan terms.
Manager Henrik Pedersen told reporters that Charles would sit out until the September international break at least, though the overall seriousness of the injury has not yet been fully defined. Speaking to The Star, the Danish coach was unable to rule out the possibility of surgery to correct the problem.
“We are not quite sure for this yet,” Pedersen said. “He has been seen by a specialist and now we are waiting for the answer on which direction it will go, so it can still go in both directions.”
Given the public acknowledgement of Charles’ injury, it came as something of a surprise to many that the 20-year-old was included in the Northern Ireland squad for World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Germany. The Owls number one is a vital figure for his country, who too appear to be waiting on further medical clarity. Both club and country are in dialogue.
Pedersen said: “I saw that he was named and I know that the club are in contact with the national team from Northern Ireland. I am sure they will find a way to handle this situation.”
In his own press conference on Thursday, Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill explained the decision to call him up despite the issue. “Pierce has an injury, we're in dialogue with Sheffield Wednesday, we don't know the extent of that in full yet," O'Neill said. “We have two weeks before we play so we have to make sure that we give ourselves every chance that he can be fit to play if selected.
“We also need cover if not and that's what we'll do. At the moment, the club and our own medical team are in regular dialogue. It's only come to light in the past 24 hours and hopefully the player will get good news before we meet up, but we'll have to wait and see.”