Carlos Carvalhal

Almen Abdi earned first team spot on the training ground

Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal has told the Sheffield Star that Almen Abdi earned his way back into the first team thanks to his hard work on the training ground.

The 30-year-old midfielder was seen as a big signing for the Owls when he moved there from Watford in the summer but he has struggled to adjust to life in South Yorkshire. For the last few months he has had to watch from the sidelines as Wednesday pushed for promotion, but was given a shock recall to the first team for the match against Nottingham Forest yesterday.

And Carvalhal got his reward to bringing Abdi backing into the fold when he scored a superb volley to open the scoring in a 2-1 win, one that will certainly be in discussion for goal of the season come May. And now Carvalhal has revealed that the reason Abdi was back in the first team was because he worked hard on the training ground to show he was ready for it.

He said: “We knew when we brought Almen in that he was a quality player.”

“It was easier for him to play alongside Sam [Hutchinson] and he played a little more in attack.”

“He scored a fantastic goal but I would have been happy with him even if he hadn’t scored.”

“It was important that he performed,”

“Almen had an injury before but he has trained well, especially in the last three weeks.”

“I’m not saying Almen didn’t train well before but something changed in his head and he is training much better.”

“When the players are training and performing well, they will, of course, have the chance to play.”

“Almen played well and I’d have said the same had he not scored.”

“He’s a good player and gave energy to our midfield and we need that a lot at this moment in the season.”

“It is not a surprise to me how Almen played. If we didn’t trust him, we wouldn’t play him. We know exactly what he can do.”

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