Sheffield Wednesday have announced the signing of free agent Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.
The winger has been without a club since the end of last season, leaving Middlesbrough after just three months under the management of Neil Warnock.
Mendez-Laing’s career began at Wolves, where he made his name in the youth ranks before being sent out on a series of loans to both Peterborough and Sheffield United. He then moved to Posh on a permanent deal in 2012 (after failing to agree personal terms just a year earlier), in a move which provided varying degrees of success.
The now-29-year-old underwent further loan spells at Portsmouth, Shrewsbury and Cambridge United, scoring one goal in total over his time at the clubs. He then made a permanent move to Rochdale in 2015, where his career started to get back on track.
In his second season with Dale, the club narrowly missed out on the League One play-offs by four points, and with his contract set to expire, he became a target for a number of Championship clubs.
Mendez-Laing started to feature regularly for Scotland during this period in his career, and earned a move to Warnock’s Cardiff side on a free transfer. He enjoyed his best career spell at the Bluebirds, and helped them achieve promotion to the Premier League in the 2017/18 season.
The attacker joined Boro in February this year, following an alleged breach of contract at Cardiff, which was later revealed to be for a positive drug test.
He joins Darren Moore’s side as they attempt to gain promotion back to the second tier, after a number of weeks on trial at the Owls – Sheffield Wednesday currently sit in 7th-place of the League One table and are next in action at home to MK Dons on Tuesday evening.
