Sheffield Wednesday, minus an emphatic 4-0 opening day win over Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth Argyle, have really struggled in the Championship so far.
The Owls have lost all of their league games since this false opening dawn, shipping a dire nine goals in the process, as the likes of Sunderland and Millwall capitalised on Danny Rohl‘s side being charitable in defence.
Ike Ugbo has been notably quiet since his return to South Yorkshire, with zero league goals managed so far having sealed a dramatic move back to England during the recently closed transfer window.
Ugbo’s return to Wednesday
The Owls must have breathed a major sigh of relief when Ugbo was finally unveiled last month, bringing to a close a long-running transfer saga with Troyes over whether or not the Canada international would ever pull on a Wednesday strip again.
The second-tier side went all out to get Ugbo back – for good reason too – paying a rumoured £2.5m to permanently tie him down to Hillsborough after his standout loan stint, with the former Chelsea youngster bagging an impressive seven goals from 18 league games last season.
It hasn’t quite worked out for him during the infancy of this campaign, however, with only one goal and assist coming his way in the EFL Cup against Grimsby Town, as no goals or assists have been forthcoming in the Championship from three appearances to date.
Wednesday supporters will hope that Ugbo just needs to get back up to speed and eventually hit the ground running after a frantic summer saw his future constantly hang in the air, with only one start afforded to him in the league by Rohl since returning to South Yorkshire.
It’s not as if he’s been the only underwhelming performer so far in attack, as the likes of Anthony Musaba and Djeidi Gassama have also been quiet across their side’s recent span of worrying losses, with the Owls sitting just two places above the dreaded relegation spots right now.
It is only early days, but Wednesday would love to have one particular former player now back on their roster.
Mendez-Laing’s form since leaving Wednesday
Allowed to leave for £0 back in 2022, it’s fair to say nobody who watched Nathaniel Mendez-Laing week in week out at Hillsborough would have anticipated him to be a goal and an assist machine for Derby County when he left two years ago, having seriously unimpressed for the Owls across an unmemorable one year stay.
The former Cardiff City winger would only muster up an unsatisfactory two goals and three assists from 19 games donning Wednesday blue and white, before being allowed to leave for nothing when Pride Park came calling.
However, now into his third campaign playing in Derbyshire, Mendez-Laing is very much a Rams icon, with his plentiful goal contributions really helping Paul Warne’s men last season in breaking out of League One.
Mendez-Laing even outperformed Ugbo across his full season, with a very impressive ten goals and 18 assists managed in all competitions from the EFL veteran, compared to his Canadian counterpart’s lesser tally playing for both Rohl’s side and also for Cardiff on loan.
Mendez-Laing vs Ugbo (2023/24) | ||
|---|---|---|
Stat – per 90 mins* | ||
Games played | 46 | 38 |
Goals scored | 9 | 11 |
Assists | 16 | 2 |
Shots* | 2.0 | 1.3 |
Big chances missed | 7 | 11 |
Big chances created | 20 | 3 |
Goal conversion % | 10% | 22% |
Stats by Sofascore | ||
Even just examining their league numbers, Mendez-Laing betters the ex-Chelsea man considerably when it comes to goal contributions, with an amazing 20 big chances created by the ex-Bluebirds attacker for Warne’s men across the League One campaign.
Annoyingly, in the here and now, Mendez-Laing would be a figure Rohl would love to have at his disposal at Hillsborough to help the likes of Ugbo find their goalscoring mojo again, with the ageing winger already notching up two assists in the second tier this season from four league clashes.
Instead, Wednesday’s loss has ended up being Derby’s major gain, as both clubs aim to keep their heads above water and stay put in the Championship past this season ahead.
