This article is part of Football FanCast’s Loan Watch series, which takes a closer look at those players who are aiming to galvanise their careers away from the spotlight of their parent club.
Sheffield Wednesday haven’t made the Championship playoffs since Carlos Carvalhal was in charge, the first manager under the tumultuous tenure of chairman Dejphon Chansiri.
Since back-to-back top-six finishes under the Portuguese native, the Owls have been made to suffer from midtable mediocrity, finishing no higher than 12th since the end of the 2016/17 season.
It is now Garry Monk who is tasked with improving that as the south Yorkshiremen target a return to the promised land for the first time in two decades.
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The chances of that happening may depend on how stern the English Football League are after they charged Chansiri and several others of the Wednesday hierarchy for financial misconduct over the sale of their Hillsborough stadium, but that’s a problem for another day with punishment yet to be announced.
Between Carvalhal and Monk, the Owls have employed two permanent managers in Jos Luhukay and Steve Bruce, and both will go down with much of the fanbase quite acrimoniously for differing reasons.
But it is the former who is still having some sort of impact on the current Wednesday squad.
The Dutchman is in charge of 2. Bundesliga side St Pauli, who after an excellent start to the season find themselves entangled in a relegation scrap.
After 15 games, they sit outside the drop zone only by goal difference having not won in seven straight matches now.
Normally, this would be of no concern to those at Hillsborough, Luhukay has been and gone so who cares? However, he’s the man with power over one of the club’s youngsters, Matt Penney.
The 21-year-old is currently on loan there, but he hasn’t featured in over a month – from the seven league matches he has played in, the German outfit have lost just once, so maybe his absence is being felt at the Millerntor-Stadion.
Monk currently only has one left-back at the club in Morgan Fox, and with his contract set to expire at the end of the season, he could well need options in the position later down the line.
As such, Penney needs to impress out in Germany, but that fate is entirely in Luhukay’s control.
Wednesday could suffer as a result as come the summer, the 40-year-old will need to strengthen an integral part of his defence.
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Meanwhile, Sheffield Star reporter Dom Howson has revealed exactly what Dejphon Chansiri will do upon returning to the country this month…
