MYSTERY OF OWLS’ SNUB TO HIRST JNR
AS ENGLAND’S young Lions continue to impress at all levels, the curious case of George Hirst and Sheffield Wednesday illustrates a problem facing the best teenage footballers in the country. Hirst and Wednesday should be a match made in heaven: one is the son of Owls legend David and dreams of scoring goals at Hillsborough. The other is a club desperate for the tonic of a homegrown hero. Yet the striker, 18, is set to leave when his contract expires at the end of the season, having reached the inescapable conclusion that the club he loves do not have his best interests at heart. As Hirst was scoring 40 goals across different age levels last season, Wednesday were busy stockpiling more senior strikers, effectively blocking his route to the first team. His opportunities have been limited by Gary Hooper, Steven Fletcher, Fernando Forestieri, Lucas Joao and Atdhe Nuhiu. Earlier this year, aware Hirst had been tearing it up in the youth ranks, they bought two more strikers, Sam Winnall and Jordan Rhodes. Wednesday rejected a £2m bid for Hirst from Leicester in August worth £2million and Leeds had a formal approach turned down. Both clubs remain keen as so do many others. Hirst has not played for Wednesday at any level this season and, when asked for an update, manager Carlos Carvalhal said: ‘He’s not a player who is involved with us. I am the manager but I’m not a person to do contracts and talk about these things.’ It is a bizarre approach to nurturing the most exciting youngster to emerge from their academy for a generation. His only football comes with England, who were eager for him to remain involved after he scored four goals for the Under20s and was named in the team of the tournament at Toulon. He followed that with a hat-trick for the Under 19s against Poland in September and is with them this week for European qualifiers against the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Bulgaria. There are some similarities with Dominic Solanke, who barely played for Chelsea at any level last season, having made it clear he would be leaving at the end of his contract. England kept faith and Solanke helped his country win the Under-20 World Cup before joining Liverpool. Across the city, Sheffield United are in the habit of producing Premier League players, such as Kyle Walker, Kyle Naughton, Matthew Lowton, Harry Maguire and Dominic CalvertLewin. Midfielder David Brooks is the latest to attract scouts. Owls fans cheered Hirst on his debut as a substitute in a Carabao Cup tie at Cambridge, but he has played only 41 minutes of first-team football for the club he has supported all his life. After these internationals he could have no competitive action until the Under-19s meet up at the end of February. His development is losing momentum and Wednesday will be paid a fraction of what he could ultimatly be worth. There is no winner.