Sheffield Wednesday knew they needed a striker heading into January, yet here we are, the deadline has passed and there’s not a single centre-forward that has come through the door.
The Owls’ transfer window was rather underwhelming, and while they did manage to strengthen in some areas, there are still questions to be asked about the recruitment team.
However, it wasn’t for the lack of trying.
Indeed, YorkshireLive report that enquiries were made for Lukas Jutkiewicz. Glenn Murray. Josip Drmić. Robert Glatzel and Isaac Success, but as we know, none of them came through the door.
However, this shortlist just goes to further highlight the biggest problem at Wednesday at the moment – a complete and utter lack of direction.
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Dejphon Chansiri has had over a month to bring in a new manager, and he’s failed to do so, and that has led to a complete lack of tactical identity and direction.
Just look at those five names, they’re completely different players that suit wildly different styles.
Jutkiewicz and Glatzel are traditional target men, so having those two on the same list at least makes a bit of sense. However, the other three just don’t seem to add up.
Drmic is more of a link-up striker who doesn’t flourish in front of goal, while Glenn Murray is the exact opposite, being a 37-year-old poacher who needs to be in a team that creates chance after chance.
Isaac Success is by no means a bad player at this level, but he’s barely a number nine, playing more often on the wings, scoring just four five goals in five years since joining Watford in 2016.
It just doesn’t make sense. There’s seemingly no clear objective in the market, it looks like a scattergun approach based on who is available rather than bringing in a man to fit the philosophy you’re looking to build, which is understandable, seeing as the club still doesn’t have a manager.
Wednesday are a ship without a captain at the moment, and it’s all well and good trying to sign new strikers, but if you bring someone in who doesn’t fit the manager’s tactics, what is the point?
It’s redundant anyway as Wednesday failed to even broker a deal for any of their five reported targets, but that may be a blessing in disguise as there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of logic behind the list of targets compiled.
