Conor Grant has recently stepped up into the Sheffield Wednesday first-team ahead of their Championship clash with Nottingham Forest and told the Fingal Independent (h/t Sheffield Star) that he’s “getting closer to making a breakthrough”.
The 18-year-old has been a regular for Wednesday’s U23s and believes he was on course to be promoted before Covid-19 caused the season to be postponed. Three months later and Grant is finally being rewarded for his progress made at youth level.
He said: “The first week back was so tough“It was basically just all running as the coaches tried to get our fitness back up to speed after the long lay-off. I have to admit that wasn’t a whole lot of fun, but last week was much better as we got to do a lot more ball work.
“I’m enjoying training with the first team and I feel I’m getting closer all the time to making a breakthrough. I played a lot with the Under-23 team this season before the pandemic hit and I felt I was ready to make the step up to the first team.”
Grant joined Wednesday on a free transfer from Shamrock Rovers in 2017 and has risen to the fringes of the first-team. The midfielder was an unused substitute in the Owls’ EFL Cup win over Rotherham United back in August 2019, so he’s been on Garry Monk’s radar previously.
With Sam Hutchinson and Kieran Lee out of contract this summer, Grant’s inclusion could be significant. If the 18-year-old can pick up some minutes during the run-in, he’ll set himself up to stay in the first-team next season.
Ahead of Saturday’s clash with Forest, Wednesday are currently 15th in the Championship with 48 points from 37 games.
