Sheffield Wednesday’s Championship survival hangs in the balance with seven games remaining, and a seven-point gap to make up to safety.
Darren Moore’s Sheffield Wednesday look as though they’re going to put up a good fight in the final run in of the season. Two wins out of three including a 5-0 whitewash of Cardiff City on Monday has given the Owls a fighting chance of Championship survival. But the odds remain slim.
Whichever way we look at it though – survival or relegation – Sheffield Wednesday need, and are set to undergo a radical change in the summer.
Upwards of 12 first-team players could leave when their contracts expire in the summer. It’ll leave Moore with a lot of big decisions to make in the final few weeks of the season and a big shopping list come the summer transfer window.
What Wednesday’s summer recruitment will look like – in terms of how much financial backing Moore will receive and what kind of players they can attract if they drop into League One – remains a mystery. But Moore might have a talisman in the making in Andre Green.
The former Aston Villa man has played just 97 minutes of football in four Championship appearances for Wednesday since he joined on a free in the January transfer window – his only appearances under Moore have come as a substitute in the last three outings, accounting for 25 minutes of his Wednesday career.
He’s gradually working his way back from injury and managed to get himself on the score-sheet in an U23s game this week, so he could yet play an important role in Sheffield Wednesday’s battle against relegation.
⚽️ @AndreGreen_ with the opener at Middlewood Road#swfc pic.twitter.com/eimPxExzLe
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) April 6, 2021
Next season though, with a full pre-season of training behind him, Green will be expected to be a regular and compeitive member of the first-team.
His goal for the U23 side showed the exact qualities that Moore will be looking for in a wide man – cutting from inside with pace and firing into the back of the net. That very move could become a vital weapon for Moore next season, be his side in the Championship or League One.
At 22-years-old as well, Green remains a young player. He was arguably rushed into his Aston Villa career way back in the 2015/16 season and that might have hampered his development. But he has a golden opportunity to kick-start his career at Sheffield Wednesday and with a few goals and such next season, he could quickly become a fan favourite.