Academy outing for hot prospect
Sheffield Wednesday have been boosted by a first appearance of the season for youngster George Hirst. The son of Owls legend David, George has a hugely successful campaign for the Owls youth squads last season and started to gain national acclaim when representing England at under 18 and under 19 level.
His Wednesday contract is up in the summer and with a number of Premier League clubs showing an interest, talks on a new deal stalled and as a result George has been frozen out of action at all levels for his club side this season. However, something seems to have happened behind the scenes as Hirst was selected to play for the Owls under 23’s at Leeds United on Friday. Starting up front, he earned a penalty in the first 5 minutes which Almen Abdi converted to reduce the deficit to 2-1 after the visitors got off to a nightmare start, conceding twice in the opening 2 minutes.
In the second half the England youngster latched onto a fine through ball from Abdi to make it 2-2 with an assured finish after outpacing the Leeds backline. Wednesday went on to lose the game 3-2, conceding on the break in the final few minutes having dominated much of the second half but the performance of Hirst was a big positive considering his lack of competitive involvement this season. With new first team manager Jos Luhukay showing no hesitation in promoting promising performers from the academy team there could yet be a chance for Hirst to feature for the first team this season.