Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl has explained why Ike Ugbo wasn’t in the squad for yesterday’s game.
The head coach spoke to The Star.
So, what has the Wednesday boss said about Ugbo? Let’s take a closer look…
What Danny Rohl has said about Ike Ugbo
The striker checked in from Troyes on loan last week and it was anticipated that he might feature against Southampton.
Ugbo wasn’t in the squad, however, as the Saints steamrolled Wednesday to continue their fine form.
After the game, the head coach was quizzed on what the situation was with Ugbo following his arrival at Wednesday.
Rohl told The Star: “He needs time to adapt to our intensity, our pressing. We will do this next week and this is why it’s better to have him in earlier in the transfer window.
“We have seen in the first training session that he has the quality and now it’s about him being ready for our games.”
Ugbo is only on loan at Hillsborough and there is no option to buy him.
He signed for the club after he spent the first half of the 2023/24 with Cardiff City, scoring four times for the Bluebirds.
Ugbo can be asset to Wednesday
In fairness, it was probably a decent game not to utilise Ugbo down at Southampton.
Wednesday were never going to have much of the ball and it proved a frustrating day for the strikers yesterday.
Rohl is keen to get Wednesday playing football the right way and the high-intensity press is something that Ugbo will have to deal with.
The talisman will prove an intriguing addition to the Wednesday squad, however, given that he doesn’t score stacks of goals.
It’s been no secret that Wednesday were keen to sign a striker and it will now be interesting to see if another one comes in too.
Both Michael Smith and Lee Gregory could leave the club this summer, with Derby County keen on Smith.
Ugbo will hope to get in the team as quickly as possible and Wednesday fans will hope that he can hit the ground running at Hillsborough.