Monk urges Forestieri to not ‘dwell on’ racism ban
SHEFFIELD Wednesday manager Garry Monk has urged Fernando Forestieri not to dwell on his six-match racism ban and concentrate on returning to his ‘devastating’ best.
Owls forward Forestieri was acquitted in court of racially abusing Mansfield defender Krystian Pearce during a friendly in July 2018 but was subsequently hit with a lengthy suspension from the Football Association.
The 29-year-old Argentinian, who has repeatedly maintained his innocence, is now available for selection and could be involved in tonight’s televised game at Cardiff as Wednesday bid to go top of the Sky Bet Championship.
Monk, whose appointment at Hillsborough coincided with the start of Forestieri’s enforced lay-off, has been impressed with the player’s attitude and application.
“It’s his job to try and deliver and get back to the levels that we all know he’s capable of,” said Monk at his pre-match press conference.
“From what I’ve seen of him, he seems in the right frame of mind to try and do that.
“Things happen in football and in life and you can’t dwell on them, you have to take the experience and learn from it but you also have to push on.
“His attitude has been good, he’s trained really well, he’s worked really hard and he’s available now.
“That’s all he could do at this point and if he does get an opportunity on the pitch it’s to him to take that next step up and show all of us the Fernando that we know who can be devastating at this level.”
Victory on a ground where Wednesday have never won would lift them top going into the weekend fixtures. TOWN manager Danny Cowley has revealed how Town have spent their two weeks of uninterrupted training since the Hull City game.
Juninho Bacuna, Kamil Grabara, Florent Hadergjonaj and Steve Mounie were the only international call-ups for the Terriers following Trevoh Chalobah’s withdrawal from the England U21 squad through injury – giving Cowley the majority