Sheffield Wednesday's first team squad is set to return to training on Tuesday as their preparations for the 2014/15 season begin to take shape but the Owls are currently very short on numbers.
No less than 8 players were released at Hillsborough on expiry of their contracts at the end of last season. In addition to that 2 key first team players,Chris Kirkland and Joes Semedo, were offered new deals at the end of their contracts but have yet to make a formal decision.
Furthermore, central defenders Oguchi Onyewu and Glenn Loovens, who both joined the Owls on short term deals that expired at the end of last season, were said to be in negotiations with the club regarding new deals but they too have yet to decide whether to sign up with Wednesday or ply their trade elsewhere.
This means that with less than two weeks to go to Wednesday's first warm up game at York City, Stuart Gray barely has a team to work with. Kamil Zayatte is the only senior central defender currently on the Owls books and he spent much of last season either on the treatment table or out of favour.
The Owls have made a few signings so far this summer but these have been young players who are not expected to be first team regulars at this time.
Wednesday are currently in the process of finalising a takeover deal and this may have delayed matters in respect of completing any moves for new players but regardless of the reasons, being so short of numbers at this stage is hardly ideal preparation. The sooner any new players come in the quicker they can adapt to the Owls pre-season schedule, Stuart Gray's tactics, their team mates and their new surroundings.
It will be interesting to see if any prospective new signings can be seen alongside Stuart Gray's small squad during this weeks training sessions.