A player employed by a third-division Italian side was pictured at Sheffield Wednesday’s Middlewood Road training ground earlier today (Wednesday).
Manuel Hidalgo, a winger for U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918, can be seen dressed in Wednesday training wear, alongside Fernando Forestieri in a photo shared by the Owls forward on Instagram.
Hidalgo with Forestieri (Photo credit: https://instagram.com/fernandoforestieri)
The reason for Hidalgo’s visit is as yet unclear, although his own Instagram history reveals that the pair are already known to one another.
Like Forestieri, the 20-year-old is Argentinian by birth and moved to Europe in his teenage years.
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Hidalgo was with Benfica for a year before he joined Triestina in 2017.
But he has yet to feature for the Serie C side this season, despite being fully fit.
And according to Transfermarkt, he missed their most recent fixture, against Reggio Audace on Sunday, due to ‘special leave’.
That may or may not point towards a trial spell at Hillsborough, although Hidalgo was not part of the Sheffield Wednesday Under-23s squad for Sunday’s 5-1 win at Hull City.
Should Hidalgo sign a contract with Wednesday he would not be eligible for first-team fixtures until the January transfer window.
