Sheffield Wednesday: Relaxed Carlos Carvalhal happy with the size of Owls squad

A major talking point as Sheffield Wednesday prepare to resume their Championship campaign remains the size of Carlos Carvalhal's squad.
Carlos CarvalhalCarlos Carvalhal
Carlos Carvalhal

The Owls currently have 28 senior players plus a string of youngsters such as Cameron Dawson, Jack Stobbs and George Hirst.

It surely has to be one of the biggest in the division.

Attempts to offload some of their fringe players, including Claude Dielna and Sergiu Bus, before the transfer window shut on August 31 failed to materialise. There was no interest either for midfielder Lewis McGugan, who, like Dielna and Bus, has not been allocated a squad number.

While he prefers quantity over quality, Carvalhal insists he is happy with the options at his disposal. Clubs can still sign free agents but Carvalhal has ruled out bringing in any further reinforcements following the signings of Adam Reach and Urby Emanuelson.

“We don’t have too many (players),” Carvalhal argued. “It is the correct players that we need. We have two players per position.

“It is important as we don’t want what happened against Leeds to happen again. They switched the players more than us and were more fresh. We created more chances but they played with more energy than us.”

This afternoon’s home tussle with Wigan Athletic is the first of three fixtures in a week for the Owls. Carvalhal’s charges then welcome Bristol City to Hillsborough before travelling to Birmingham City next Saturday.

Carvalhal, a big fan of squad rotation, said: “We know exactly which players recover well between the games and those who have a lot of problems.

“We deal with our players but it is not just our view and perception. Sometimes the players say to us that they are not fit to play after three games.”

There is a possibility record-signing Reach will be thrown straight in against a Wigan side who are just below Wednesday in the table.

The Owls beat off strong competition to land Reach in a £5m deal and Carvalhal is convinced the 23-year-old will be a big asset over the coming years.

He said: “Adam is a fantastic player. He can play at the top. He has good pace, good quality and is tactically very good. I think he can do a lot of things with Sheffield Wednesday. He’s only 23 and someone that we expect a lot from in the future.”

Carvalhal is adamant Wednesday are a much stronger and better side than when he first arrived back in June 2015.

He said: “If we act like a team all the time, we are strong. We showed that at Brentford. We were all in the same boat and going in the same direction. Sometimes you can be in the boat but going in different directions.”