Sheffield Wednesday are hurtling towards an eventful summer, with one big ‘what if’ on the table.
Sheffield Wednesday have nine games left to salvage their Championship status for another year.
And that’s the big ‘what if’ here; if the Owls stay up then it will surely make for a drastically different 2023/24 season than if they were to be relegated.
A huge question mark lies over the future of Danny Rohl, with Championship teams interested in his services, and several of the club’s out of contract players too.
And there could be a big question mark over Bailey Cadamarteri.
Bailey Cadamarteri breakthrough is one of the stories of the season
Cadamarteri is now a fully-fledged first-teamer at Sheffield Wednesday.
He made his breakthrough earlier in the campaign, netted a few goals, and landed a new, long-term contract at the club.
But it’s not been so straight-forward since.
Cadamarteri hasn’t scored a league goal since December and has lost his place in the starting XI to Ike Ugbo, who already has six Championship goals for the Owls compared to Cadamarteri’s three.
Though Cadamarteri remains just 18 years old. And he also remains a player held in very high regards by Rohl who recently spoke of the striker’s improvements on the training ground.
But should the Owls stay up then Cadamarteri’s development might be better-served out on loan.
Sheffield Wednesday should consider Cadamarteri loan
Should Sheffield Wednesday stay in the Championship, and should the Owls then sign a whole new front-line, then it might be best to send Cadamarteri out on loan.
Right now there’s Ugbo, Cadamarteri, and Michael Smith playing up front.
Rohl really only uses three strikers and deploys one at a time, and Cadamarteri isn’t playing that much.
But with Ugbo seeing his loan spell end in the summer, Sheffield Wednesday will surely bring in a new striker, and if Rohl stays and oversees a big summer overhaul, one or two more strikers could come in.
That might push Cadamarteri down the pecking order and could leave him playing a back-up role once again.
But at his age and with his potential, he needs to be playing every week, so a loan move to a League One or even top-end League Two club could be ideal for his development.
He remains a player with huge ability and with a full-season of playing senior football, hopefully with a few more goals to his name, he could bag the confidence needed to really blossom in his early years.
Up next for the Owls is a trip to Ipswich Town on Saturday.