MONK’S GLAD TO HAVE FER BACK IN THE MIX
SHEFFIELD Wednesday boss Garry Monk has signalled his delight at having Fernando Forestieri available for selection again following his sixgame ban for using racist language.
The FA’s independent regulatory commission found the 29-year-old guilty after events during a pre-season friendly against Mansfield Town in 2018 in which Stags captain Krystian Pearce accused Forestieri of racist behaviour.
And although he was acquitted in a court of law back in March this year, the Argentinian-born Italian received a six-game ban and a £25,000 fine as punishment as well as being ordered to attend faceto-face FA education.
The forward featured in the Owls’ first four games of the season before missing out on fixtures against Huddersfield, Fulham, the Carabao Cup defeat to Everton and further league games against Middlesbrough, Hull and Wigan.
Forestieri became available once again ahead of the trip to Cardiff City on Friday and has been impressing his manager during his first-team absence, helping the under-23s to a 5-1 win away at Hull.
“We tried to give him a programme throughout the period he was out,” said the Owls boss.
“He’s trained really hard and we’ve really tried to condition him, which is hard in that period no matter how much training you do.
“But he’s been good, shown a good attitude and now he’s available and it’s another player into the mix. He’s been working very hard and I’ve been very happy with his attitude to the work we’ve asked him to do.
“Of course, he is going to be needed but it’s down to him to put himself in that window of being in the squad and in the team, the same as any other player.
“We know the quality he has and we want to see that as much as possible.”