Danny Rohl has praised a truly ‘special’ Sheffield Wednesday player following his display at the weekend.
Speaking after the win over Blackburn Rovers, the Owls manager was very complimentary of Bailey Cadamarteri after he netted his first senior goal for the club.
Bailey Cadamarteri joined Sheffield Wednesday when he was 8 years old and has come up through the youth ranks, eventually earning his senior debut in the EFL Trophy in October 2022.
The youngster later suffered a season-ending injury and also missed out part of the summer’s pre-season campaign as he recovered, however that doesn’t appear to have damaged his reputation among the senior squad.
Danny Rohl clearly took a liking to Cadamarteri very quickly, handing him his Championship debut in the 4-0 defeat to Millwall last month.
An injury to Mallik Wilks gifted then 18-year-old his first start for the Owls in last week’s draw to Leicester City, before marking his second start with a goal on Saturday.
Cadamarteri opened the scoring only five minutes in, before Marvin Johnson and Josh Windass secured a 3-1 win at Hillsborough.
Speaking on the forward, Rohl said: “Hopefully, this is the starting point for more goals. For me, it’s always the outcome from the last weeks. If you train hard and if you work very professionally, you are able to do this.
“He showed on Wednesday against Leicester how he can press, how he can play for us. I’m convinced about him. It was the reason why I took him immediately when I saw him. I see special things from him.”
Is youth important to Sheffield Wednesday’s transformation?
Only 34 years old himself, Danny Rohl has taken to the youth prospects to carve out his ambitions at Sheffield Wednesday.
The German has given chances to the likes of Bailey Cadamarteri, Djeidi Gassama and Anthony Musaba this season.
Sheffield Wednesday previously had the second, third and fourth oldest starting line-up this season – all over 29 years old. The average age of the Owls’ XI that took on Blackburn was 26.9.
Nobody is expecting Rohl to leave out all the older players, but it clearly shows the effect of bringing in some youth and excitement to a struggling squad. While the likes of Barry Bannan and Callum Paterson add some much-needed experience and leadership to balance it out.
There is no doubt that Cadamarteri will have solidified his place in the starting line-up for now, though Rohl definitely won’t want to overdo it with the youngster.