Lee Bullen has insisted that he does not see Matt Penney’s loan spell as an opportunity for the Sheffield Wednesday wing-back to put himself ‘in the shop window’.
Penney has joined FC St. Pauli on a season-long deal which sees him reunited with the manager who gave him his first-team debut at Hillsborough, Jos Luhukay.
The 21-year-old made all 17 of his Wednesday appearances under Luhukay last season, before sitting out the rest of the campaign with a shoulder injury.
Those largely bright displays earned Penney a one-year contract extension, but that deal is due to expire in 10 months’ time.
Speaking to Sheffield Wednesday’s official Facebook page on Friday, however, Bullen dismissed the notion that those of a Sheffield Wednesday persuasion might have seen the last of the Chesterfield native.
“No, no, no,” replied the Owls caretaker boss. “I think we’re still looking at Matt as having a future with the football club. So, as I say, it’s just beneficial to get him some game time. (In) January, we have an option to bring him back and we’ll reassess that at the time.”
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Bullen had earlier explained: “There’s an opportunity for the lad to go and play games where here he may play, say, three or four games up to Christmas if everybody stays fit.
“You don’t want to keep players when they’ve got an opportunity like that to, one, experience a different life education and, two, (to play) a good quality of football over there.
“So we think it’ll be beneficial to the football club that Matt goes over and gets that experience, and gets involved (in) first-team football there, where it might be limited here, as I say, if everybody stays fit.”
Penney has slipped behind Liam Palmer and Morgan Fox in Sheffield Wednesday’s left-side pecking order, while the summer signing Moses Odubajo can also play there.
He is the latest young Owl to leave on loan, after Connor Kirby (Macclesfield) and Jack Stobbs (Livingston) – and he may not be the last.