Danny Rohl wants Sheffield Wednesday to loan 'next level' players in January - regardless of league position
Rohl believes the progress Southampton's Shea Charles has made on loan at Hilsborough this season can only help, even if he was evasive about speculation Arsenal could try to take the Northern Ireland midfielder to north London.
Wednesday's last game, at Sheffield United, highlighted the gap in quality between the Owls and the top end of the Championship, especially clubs like the Blades with Premier League parachute money which allows them to retain and recruit top talent after relegation.
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Hide AdBut the loan market offers access to a higher calibre of player, and after a transfer embargo was lifted in the international break Rohl is keen to use it again, as he has with Charles and Brighton and Hove Albion's James Beadle this season.
"We need players from the Premier League clubs to improve the squad but it's not always just convincing the players, I need the full package," said manager Rohl.
"It's a big part (of the process) to get some good loan players from good Premier League clubs to increase our level.
"We have a lot of players on a similar level.
"In the last 11 games – expect Watford – all the games were very close. This is a step forward from last season. But to get these close games on your side you need this high-end quality in some phases of the game.
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"This is what we have to work on. We will do this in the next few weeks and let's see what we can do."
Getting financial backing might be easier if the Owls can lift themselves from 15th to within striking range of the play-offs, but Rohl says it should not matter.
"Of course we want to get more points than in the last weeks and then we can look at the end of the year where we are and maybe there's an influence but I look at the long-term and it should not influence what we want to do," he said.
"If it's possible is a different thing because it's not our decision (as a coaching staff) but how we want to act should not be influenced by this."
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Charles' improvement this season has been noted – some say by Arsenal, whose manager Mikel Arteta was at Manchester City when the Northern Ireland international was in their academy.
“This is a result of his performance," said Rohl. "I try to support him, but he has to perform on the pitch and he is doing well, the captain of the national team, he is a key player there and a key player for us.
"He is a young, high-potential player and has got a lot of minutes.
“I am not sure how many Sheffield Wednesday players were linked with these big teams. The pity is he is not our player. If he was this would be fantastic.
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Hide Ad"When we decided to take him in the summer, we saw something in him and he showed up.
“For him it is about rhythm, getting a lot of minutes. Hopefully he will get a lot more minutes for us this season and this is helpful for us.”
The Owls should anyway be stronger in the coming weeks for the return from injury of Nathaniel Chalobah and Michael Ihiekwe.
"Except for Akin (Famewo) and Olaf (Kobacki) everyone is back (from injury), it's good to see,” said Rohl.
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Hide AdChalobah, who has played just 62 minutes of League Cup football since joining in the summer, played for the under-21s on Monday.
"If you ask him he is ready tomorrow of course" said Rohl. "It's about building him up step by step. He had some good minutes on Monday.
"He trained on Thursday day in 11 against 11 and I think in the following games he will be available.
"It's the same for Icky (Ihiekwe), who was out for six or seven weeks. He needs minutes, he needs training but looking at our schedule we know games will come."
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