SHEFFIELD Wednesday defender Lewis Buxton is all set to make his first appearance of pre-season in today’s match against West Brom at Hillsborough. Buxton has been recovering from a shoulder injury that required an operation in the close-season, and manager Dave Jones is pleased with his powers of recovery. “He will get some game-time against West Brom as expected, so he’s on schedule,” said Jones.
Wednesday fans will have to wait a little longer to see new-boy Rhys McCabe though, as the powers that be attempt to tie up all the loose ends in his transfer from Rangers. McCabe joins a number of other new faces in the Wednesday ranks, but Jones insisted he isn’t finished just yet.
“We’re trying very hard to bring in another four or five players, and if we can do two or three deals before the season starts I’ll be delighted, then we can relax and wait for the right time to make any other moves,” he said.
There has also been movement in the other direction this week, with Ryan Lowe heading south to MK Dons, despite having declared his intention to fight for his place at Hillsborough. Jones said “We got the right price for Ryan, and while it might seem a surprise we’re looking to build for the future. We’ve brought in Chris Maguire who does a similar job, and Ryan got a good offer so we didn’t want to stand in his way if he can get first-team football – which we couldn’t guarantee.”
Marlon Harewood is another whose future still hangs in the balance, and today’s game could be his last chance to impress. “We’ve got to make a decision over Marlon in the next few days,” said the manager. “He’s just got to bide his time, he’s done well and worked hard. He’s seen obviously that the English game is a lot different to China and he’s had the opportunity to wipe his slate clean here.”
Harewood’s future could be dependent on whether or not Wednesday manage to strike a deal with Danish club Aalborg for frontman Nicklas Helenius. Recent reports suggest a Wednesday bid has been rebuffed, but Jones managed a wry smile when asked about his interest in the 21 year old.
“Sometimes it hinders you to talk about players, you could alert other clubs to who is available and we don’t want to do that. What with Twitter and everything these days rumours can get out of control and people end up disappointed. We knew the David Norris deal was dead two weeks before that news broke but the rumour still persisted.”
As ever, Jones was happier to talk about on-the-pitch matters, and is looking forward to a good test today. “It will be a tough challenge, and we need to put into practise what we’ve done in training. There should be an improvement, the lads recently played three games in six days which might explain why they looked a little leggy and tired. Obviously we want to win but its about seeing different things at this stage.”
“We want to give players game-time and improve fitness, but you don’t get proper match fitness until you’re 2-3 games into the season anyway. We play about five games in August from the 18th onwards and that’s where it will come.”
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