Why Sheffield Wednesday should prioritize a new deal for Steven Fletcher
According to Sheffield Star, Sheffield Wednesday striker Steven Fletcher has expressed his delight in working with current Owls boss Garry Monk, insisting that he is quite impressed with the manager’s meticulous attention to detail in the club’s promotion surge.
The 32-year-old Scottish international has heaped praises on the manager for his detail-oriented approach to the scheme of things at Hillsborough while also suggesting that Monk has been a real pleasure to work with so far (h/t Sheffield Star).
Fletcher is currently Sheffield Wednesday’s top-scorer in the Championship. The 33-cap Scottish international has been Monk’s go-to man for goals in the Championship this term and Fletcher has been at the centre of a lot of good things that the club has achieved so far.
In fact, he is one of the main reasons why the Owls have managed to lay down a marker as a strong playoff contender in the ongoing campaign.
Fletcher bagged braces while delivering man-of-the-match performances in outings against Brentford and Charlton in the Championship.
The 32-year-old’s return to form ahead of a busy festive schedule comes as a piece of welcome news to the Hillsborough faithful.
Having completed a move to Sheffield Wednesday back in the summer of 2016 following his release from Sunderland, the Shrewsbury-born centre-forward is currently into his fourth season at Hillsborough. With his contract set to expire in 2020, this could well be Fletcher’s last season at the club.
Alongside the attacking quartet of Sam Winnall, Atdhe Nuhiu, Jordan Rhodes and Fernando Forestieri, Steven Fletcher is among a host of players who will be out of contract at Hillsborough at the end of the ongoing campaign.
To that end, question marks continue to linger over the futures of a number of key first-team players at the club and the Owls definitely need to initiate a contract renewal drive in order to tie at least some of them down to new deals.
With more than 10 first-team players at Hillsborough set to become free agents in 2020, it is clear that retaining all of them beyond the ongoing season could be a massive problem for the Owls.
With that in mind, Steven Fletcher continues to be one of the key cogs in Garry Monk’s playing XI and if his goalscoring form in the ongoing season is anything to go by, it should be an absolute no-brainer for Sheffield Wednesday to arrange a new deal for the veteran.
While Nuhiu, Winnall and Rhodes have only shared three goals among them in the Championship so far, Fletcher has undoubtedly shouldered the bulk of the Owls’ goalscoring workload.
Having scored 23 goals in 108 appearances for Sunderland, 24 goals in 67 appearances for Wolves and 12 in 38 outings for Burnley earlier in his career, it is easy to see that Fletcher boasts of a handsome overall strike rate in his career.
Verdict
Besides his obvious pedigree in front of the goal, Fletcher continues to be an invaluable asset to the club’s forward line with his experience and that is going to be a key factor for them for another couple of years moving forward.
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All in all, Sheffield Wednesday should be wise enough to arrange a new deal for Steven Fletcher, as his relationship with Monk continues to promise a lot more goals in the days to come.