Sheffield Wednesday can forget Ugbo by signing lethal striker
Sheffield Wednesday can forget Ugbo by signing lethal striker
Sheffield Wednesday will look to improve on last season's finish in the Championship, thankful that they managed to keep their heads above water, but wanting to push on and finish higher up the table this forthcoming season.
The Owls will also look to work some magic in the transfer window again, which saw the likes of Ike Ugbo join in the January market and become an instant fan's favourite at Hillsborough, with the former Chelsea youth player netting some vital goals, bagging seven times from 19 Wednesday appearances.
Already purchasing the likes of Yan Valery and Max Lowe, the South Yorkshire titans will look to add more firepower to their attacking positions away from just adding numbers in defence soon, with it looking difficult for Wednesday that their Canadian star will return for the 24/25 season.
Wednesday setting sights now on former target
With the Athletic stating that Wednesday could be priced out of a deal for the current Troyes man amidst major competition for his signature, Rohl and Co could turn their attention back to trying to sign Orlando City centre-forward Duncan McGuire, who had a turbulent transfer deadline day to say the least.
A move to Blackburn Rovers fell through right at the death for the American attacker after being touted to sign on the dotted line for Wednesday before attempting to get a deal through at Ewood Park, with McGuire having to then return back to MLS action after a disorientating time in England.
This week, The Athletic has further reported that Wednesday look to be going back in for McGuire, offering him a platform finally to strut his stuff in the Championship in a bid to try and mend the still-fresh scars of his Blackburn fiasco.
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What McGuire can offer Wednesday
A potent goalscoring machine playing for Orlando, the 23-year-old could make those at Wednesday also forget about Ugbo if he doesn't come back, as well as offering the Owls another body up top with Lee Gregory no longer on the books.
Labelled as being a "lethal" finisher by his Orlando boss in Oscar Pareja last year, McGuire hasn't stopped being a dependable source of goals for his MLS employers as of late, despite the disappointment of a move to the Championship not materialising.
The lofty 6 foot 1 forward has six goals in his last 16 MLS appearances, taking his goal tally overall for Pareja's men to 22 strikes from 56 contests.
Although Ugbo managed to beat McGuire's total for goals across the full 23/24 campaign, playing for Cardiff City as well as under Rohl, the table above suggests the American striker could be as lethal, or even more lethal than his Canadian counterpart, if he comes into his own putting on a Wednesday strip.
Scoring every 184 minutes during last season, compared to Ugbo's 204 minutes, alongside averaging more shots per game, McGuire will hope he can terrorise second-tier defences if he does join, causing many a back four issues alongside the likes of Djeidi Gassama and Anthony Musaba.
In an ideal world, Wednesday would have been frontrunners to sign Ugbo again this window, but if there's a possibility that McGuire could join instead, the Owls would be fools not to test the waters again.
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