"It's been brilliant" thankful departing Sheffield Wednesday man reflects on time with club
They say you should never fall in love with a loan player.
But for Shea Charles, Sheffield Wednesday fans have fallen head over heels - with his goodbye outing at Watford this weekend surely serving as the full stop on a standout coming-of-age campaign. The Northern Ireland international, who joined on loan from Southampton as the star signing of a whirlwind summer at S6, has played in every league match since his arrival and looks to have a sparkling future ahead of him.
Charles added the Sheffield Star’s Wednesday player of the year award to his growing list of club gongs - and also beat the likes of Sydie Peck to the Young Player of the Year award across the whole region.
“You don’t really think about it when you’re playing, you just tend to focus on every game as it comes,” Charles said, speaking on adding the Star award to his club player of the year acknowledgement. “But it’s not the sort of thing I’ve ever won before, not even at academy level, so I’m absolutely buzzing to have won the award. The thing is that anyone could have won it; Gassa, Josh, Baz, there are genuinely so many players who could have won it. It feels good.”
Charles will head back to Southampton a better player having played week-in and week-out for Wednesday, putting on mature performances alongside Barry Bannan in the middle of midfield and most recently deputising as a centre-half to good effect amid an injury pile-up. The mission of Wednesday’s agreement with the Saints was to see the 21-year-old get a full-throttle second tier campaign under his belt. And the man himself feels he has become a better player for his switch.
“I feel so much better,” Charles said. “It’s the same league I played in last year but you feel so different, going into every game with a lot of confidence and being able to play every game has been good for me. It’s something we (Charles and Owls boss Danny Röhl) spoke about on the phone when I joined. He’s obviously kept his word and I’ve been able to play in every game which has been great for me. Hopefully I’ve helped the gaffer like he’s helped me. For my game, it’s been brilliant.”