Crocked Lee set to sit out Owls’ opener

MIDFIELDER Kieran Lee is set to join striker Gary Hooper in missing out on Sheffield Wednesday’s start to the new Championship season.

Like Hooper, Lee (below) has not featured for the Owls in pre-season.

And the Yorkshire side’s opening-day clash at newly promoted Wigan is less than a week away.

“He is working very intensively but Kieran has been out since December,” said Wednesday boss Jos Luhukay, after their

2-1 loss at Mansfield Town on Tuesday.

“It is a hard, long way back for him.

“He makes progression and that is important in this situation.

“We are looking at a couple of weeks with Kieran and Gary.”

Both players have had hip injuries and have not played competitively in

2018.

Hooper (above) visited a specialist in Spain last week in a bid to speed up his recovery. And Luhukay said: “Gary’s not free from pain so that’s why he had intensive treatment at the weekend. It’s why we must take go step-by-step. “Hopefully now he will take two steps forward over the next week. “He’s had the problem since November or December. “He has been struggling a long time with it.

“Of course, it takes a long time to come back from this injury. “We must always have patience with the long-time injured players.” Wednesday lost 3-1 to Villarreal in a friendly at Hillsborough yesterday.

Gerard Moreno opened the scoring but Liam Palmer sent the sides in level at the break. Second-half goals from Ramiro Funes Mori and Karl Ekambi sealed the win for the Spanish side.