An international manager has hailed one Sheffield Wednesday gem for having something ‘everyone is looking for’.
Sheffield Wednesday‘s squad have come under high praise in recent months, despite spending most of the campaign at the bottom of the Championship.
The senior team have come on leaps and bounds under Danny Rohl, winning their final three games to secure their survival.
While the club are eager to tie down the likes of Barry Bannan, Josh Windass and Di’Shon Bernard to new contracts, they have also looked down to their academy to build on their future.
After Danny Rohl admitted that he really hoped the Owls could keep hold of ‘fantastic’ Pierce Charles, the goalkeeper put pen to paper on a contract extension weeks later.
It has been an exciting year for Charles, who made his senior debut in Wednesday’s draw with Coventry City in the FA Cup at the start of the year, before following it up with another start in the replay defeat.
The 18-year-old hasn’t featured since and has mostly been third-choice between the sticks, but was given more good news when he was called up to the Northern Ireland senior team earlier this week.
Charles had only made his U21 debut in March, in a 2-1 win over Serbia.
However, it was that performance that really caught the eye of Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill.
Pierce Charles adds ‘balance’ to the Northern Ireland squad
The head coach has now explained why Charles was called up to the senior team.
Speaking to Belfast News Letter, O’Neill said: “We’ve known about Pierce for quite a while. He played for the 21s out in Serbia and put in a great performance. It was a great result for Tommy [Wright, NI Under-21s boss] to win away in Serbia against a strong Serbian team and an older Serbian team than what we had on the night.
“Pierce is one of those goalkeepers that everyone is looking for in the modern game. He’s got great distribution, real composure with the ball at his feet and we know at Sheffield Wednesday they really regard him highly.
“I think with Luke Southwood having an injury, the balance of the keepers, I don’t really think there’s any benefit to bringing an older goalkeeper into that situation. Stephen or Pierce, and Stephen McMullan has been in before so it’s nice to give Pierce the opportunity and his performance in Serbia was a big part of that.”
What is next for the 18-year-old goalkeeper?
Pierce Charles will become only the seventh Sheffield Wednesday player to earn a senior international cap if he features in either of Northern Ireland’s friendlies against Spain and Andorra.
The teenager only made his Owls debut in January, but he is already growing at rapid pace and could well be pushing for a place in the first team in the coming years.
Charles is clearly very highly-rated at Hillsborough, but a potential return for James Beadle would surely mean he would be sent out on loan.
Cameron Dawson’s future remains up in the air, but Wednesday will surely be eager to have an experienced back-up if Beadle does come back.
Charles needs to be given a chance to show some of his potential and that is very limited in the U21s.
No doubt the club have come to an agreement over his near future before he signed a new deal, so perhaps we could see him move further down the pyramid to pick up some vital game time.
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