Sheffield Wednesday have exercised a one-year extension in their ‘exciting’ duo and three other U21s players’ contracts.
Sheffield Wednesday‘s planning for the 23/24 campaign is now well underway after they avoided relegation.
The Owls spent a majority of the campaign in the bottom three, but an unbeaten run of six games at the end managed to secure their safety.
Danny Rohl has repeatedly made it clear that he would wait to deal with contracts after the season was over, with a long list of first-team players set to see their current deals expire next month.
It now looks like they have begun talks with some of their assets, while they have also turned their attention to their academy players too.
Following Bailey Cadamarteri’s breakthrough campaign, the U21s stars will be pushing to make their own mark on the senior squad next term.
Five youngsters could now be given that opportunity after they had their contracts extended, with two of their most ‘exciting’ academy stars included.
‘Exciting’ duo set to stay at Hillsborough
Sheffield Wednesday released their academy retained list yesterday, with Jay Buchan, Cian Flannery, Favour Onukwuli, Joey Phuthi and Sam Reed all having the one-year option in their contracts extended.
Jack Hall, Gabriel Otegbayo and MacKenzie Maltby have all been offered new deals, while Adam Alimi-Adetoro, Luke Cook, Jay Glover and Luke Jackson have been released.
Onukwuli and Phuthi are two youngsters that have particularly impressed for the U21s, with coach Andy Holdsworth discussing them after the win over Wigan Athletic last month.
He said: “They’re exciting. The problem we have with Joey and Favour is you get a sore throat after the game because you’re always screaming at them to do the defensive side.
“I think if we can get that into them as soon as possible and understand the principles that we try to do with them, they will give you that transition, they will give you that break on the counter attack to go and get more opportunities in the final third.
“They will be horrible to play against because they want to get the ball, they want to take you on, they want to get into the box and have more shots and crosses. That’s what we want from our wide players.”
Sheffield Wednesday youngsters can push on next season
Phuthi made his Championship debut this term, while Onukwuli is still awaiting his own.
Cadamarteri’s success will encourage them to make an impact next season and push on now that they have earned a contract extension.
It feels like a clean slate for the Wednesday squad heading into the new season, and there is no reason why the pair can’t push for a place in the senior team.
With Ian Poveda potentially not returning on a permanent deal, the Owls will be eager to bolster their attacking ranks.