Sheffield Wednesday's mind made-up on Pierce Charles 'at the moment' after return

The former Manchester City academy man recently made his first senior appearances, playing both ties of their FA Cup battle with Coventry City in the absence of cup-tied loanee stopper James Beadle and then-injured Cameron Dawson. Charles, 18, also featured as an unused substitute goalkeeper in six further matches during Dawson's recovery from a knee issue.

Wednesday were understood to have been monitoring bids from EFL clubs to take Charles on loan in January, with Owls boss Danny Röhl leaving open the chance of him moving out to gain first team experience. The consideration was, he said, the balance between his development either in a lower-down senior setting or the skills gained in a highly competitive group of goalkeepers well marshalled by Sal Bibbo at S6.

The possibility of moving Charles out remains, though in terms of loans to non-league clubs only after the closure of the winter transfer window at the turn of the month. The National League and regional divisions have been a regular direction for Wednesday's younger players in recent seasons; though as things stand, it doesn't look likely Charles will be moving on despite Dawson's return to the bench in Saturday's 2-1 win over Bristol City.

Röhl explained to The Star: "At the moment, no. Cameron is back this week and we will look at their direction. It may come to a point where it makes sense to give him some minutes in a different league then OK, we can speak again. At the moment I am happy that all three goalkeepers are available, this is important for our training. We sometimes train in some groups and we need every goalkeeper in, this is fantastic. If there is a moment where it makes sense then we will talk, but at the moment we want to have the goalkeeper group together."