EFL club could be forced into emergency loan to sign seventh goalkeeper of season

Championship strugglers Sheffield Wednesday could be forced into playing a seventh goalkeeper of the season amidst a mounting injury crisis.

The Owls are enduring a torrid season, and a series of points deductions having gone into administration.

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As well as this, a late payment of players means the Yorkshire side sit 41 points off safety.

Sheffield Wednesday are winless in 26 and have lost their last nine following a 2-1 loss to promotion chasing Millwall last time out.

And the problems continue to mount for the division’s bottom side, who are now on the lookout for a seventh goalkeeper this season.

Sheffield Wednesday’s goalkeeping issues

Pierce Charles, Ethan Horvath, Joe Lumley, Logan Stretch, Murphy Cooper and Liam Palmer have all started between the sticks for the Owls at one point or another this season.

And Cooper is expected to miss the Steel City Derby when Sheffield Wednesday face rivals Sheffield United this weekend.

Cooper only arrived in January to act as cover for the injured Charles, but has suffered a muscle injury and now faces a period on the sidelines.

It’s now being reported that Sheffield Wednesday are eyeing an emergency loan move for Senegalese shotstopper Seny Dieng.

It wouldn’t be the first time they have required an emergency loan after the club signed Lumley from Bristol City in October.

Dieng, meanwhile, had looked set to leave Middlesbrough in the winter window, only for a proposed switch to Feyenoord to collapse.

The 31-year-old has since dropped down the pecking order at the Riverside and is now third choice behind Sol Brynn and Jon McLaughlin.

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If a deal for Dieng is completed, then he could be set for a sustained run of games.

Both Charles and Cooper are ruled out for the foreseeable future owing to respective issues.

Blades could relegate Owls on Sunday

It would be a baptism of fire for Dieng as Sheffield Wednesday make the trip to Bramall Lane on Sunday.

The Blades come into the welcome of the Owls on a run of three wins from their last five.

Chris Wilder’s side could also relegate their rivals should they, as expected, claim all the spoils this weekend.

Sheffield United have won the last three meetings between the two sides, keeping a clean sheet in all three.