Sheffield Wednesday have confirmed that Fraser Preston will leave at the end of his contract this summer. The 22-year-old failed to make a first-team appearance in the last two years and found himself behind six players in the pecking order, so a departure always looked likely.
Preston impressed for the U23s this season, so Vital Wednesday pondered whether Monk would consider an internal solution to the striker exodus that seemed inevitable (Steven Fletcher, Fernando Forestieri, Sam Winnall are out of contract this summer), but he’s been released instead.
Preston rose through the youth ranks to Wednesday’s first-team in 2018 and made four appearances at senior level. The 22-year-old’s last outing for the Owls came in their 4-0 defeat to Norwich City (November 3, 2018), so it was a long shot to suggest he could stay.
That being said, Preston did manage to score in August 2019’s 3-1 win over Watford, October’s 5-1 win over Hull City, October’s 4-2 defeat to Bolton Wanderers, January 2020’s 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers, February’s 2-0 win over Barnsley and March’s 2-1 win over Sheffield United, so he did all he could to get Garry Monk’s attention.
Unfortunately, Fletcher, Forestieri, Winnall, Connor Wickham and Jordan Rhodes have been preferred in attack, so Preston didn’t stand much of a chance.
