Youngsters involved as Sheffield Wednesday’s season truly kicks off

The Owls have made the trip to South Wales for what will be an intense preseason training camp and Darren Moore’s first opportunity to work with the players in any depth since his arrival at the club at the start of March.

Moore, who will hoping to set the ball rolling on a promotion charge with the club back in League One, will be faced by a new-look, much smaller group of senior players of course, with almost half a squad leaving at the end of their contracts at the end of the month.

Young defender Osaze Urhoghide, whose next club remains unconfirmed but as it stands looks bound for the exit, is not believed to have joined the squad in Wales.

As has been the case on previous preseason trips, a number of the club’s more junior players will take part in the camp, though with numbers short on the ground some will play a more central role than has been previously been the case.

Friday’s initial session at Middlewood Road saw the players undertake routine fitness testing but is understood to have not been especially strenuous. The real work, it has been suggested, starts now.

Last season’s Garry Monk-led trip to Loughborough was squeezed between Covid-blitzed seasons and took place in a shortened preseason effort. They held Premier League Leicester City to a 0-0 draw behind closed doors and this time will again build up to a supporter-less training match, this time against Celtic.

The clash will take place on July 7 and will serve as the final action of a 10-day Wales camp.