Forgotten Sheffield Wednesday man Michael Ihiekwe started today’s under-21 game as the Owls took on Fleetwood. The centre-back played the opening 50 minutes before being withdrawn at Middlewood Road.
Ihiekwe has yet to get the chance to impress new Wednesday boss Danny Rohl. His last appearance came during a 0-0 draw against Huddersfield with game time coming at a premium this season.
It’s not really been clear why Wednesday have been omitting Ihiekwe from the team. In three of the five games that Rohl has overseen, the player has been on the bench but he’s yet to get on the pitch.
Wednesday star Ihiekwe features for under-21s
It’s not ideal that Ihiekwe has been forced to play for the under-21s to regain some match sharpness. The £15,000-a-week defender was instrumental last season and he could be doing a job right now.
Ihiekwe only played for 50 minutes of today’s game. Wednesday were losing 1-0 when he went off and it’s likely that his amount of game time would have been pre-planned by the club.
Ultimately, the defender is far too good to be playing under-21 football. At 30-years-old, he’s hardly past it and his level of experience could be proving very useful on the pitch in the club’s current plight.
Ihiekwe future unclear under Rohl
The player will be gutted not to be playing regularly. Ihiekwe was colossal for Wednesday in the second leg of last season’s play-off semi-final against Peterborough, winning 15 headers during one outing.
Di’Shon Bernard is one of the players who has been keeping Ihiekwe out of the Wednesday team. He’s been called up to the Jamaica squad recently and much like the out-of-favour defender he does deserve to play.
Ihiekwe still has a part to play this season for Wednesday. He will hope to keep his eye in on the training ground and hopefully, Rohl will give him an opportunity after the international break.