Garry Monk says Jordan Rhodes will play his part for Sheffield Wednesday despite League Cup snub

The former Huddersfield Town and Middlesbrough player came on as a substitute for last week's League Cup tie at Walsall whilst winger Adam Reach and midfielder Izzy Brown were paired at centre-forward.

As the only recognised out-and-out centre-forward at the club, whether or not Rhodes starts Saturday's Championship opener at Cardiff City will speak volumes about his standing at the club but a manager who has been fearless in cutting adrift the senior players he does not want insists the 30year-old does not fall into that category.

“He's fine,” commented Monk. “I enjoy working with Jordan. We know the capabilities of him and he's had a really difficult two or three years. I've had really good discussions with him but my job is to work with the players here and do my best for them.

“You can read it into it what you want in terms of me not starting him but I also wanted to use the opportunity to see other players in those positions because we might need it this season with the options we have at this moment in time. Izzy and Adam was to see if they're capable of playing in those positions and whether that could work or not. I had to see that in a match environment. You can do it in training as much as you want.

“Of course whenever you don't start an out-and-out striker people will talk, I can't stop that.

“My job is to understand this group and what we might need this season because of injuries or a certain game.”

Rhodes scored a hat-trick at Nottingham Forest in December, but quickly returned to the role of bit-part player. Monk says he needs to be more consistent.

“I believe there's a player more than capable in there,” he said. “We've talked about confidence and how he can get that and worked through that in training and set him to targets to hit so he can get himself back to consistently performing.

“Jordan's had periods when he's performed well and periods were he hasn't performed well.

“We know Jordan can do it consistently. He's going to play his part this season, no doubt about it.

“I'm very pleased with Jordan but he knows what he needs to work on to get himself into a position to be consistently performing.”

Having lost Steven Fletcher, Sam Winnall, Adthe Nuhiu, Fernando Forestieri and the on-loan Connor Wickham over the summer, the Owls continue to look for another striker who can fit into their tight budget, although Monk admitted he is not limiting his recruitment to that position.

He refused to comment on speculation linking him with West Bromwich Albion's Kenneth Zohore.

“Like any window we're linked to names continuously,” he said. “Some names are close and some you're way off the mark, that's just part of it.

“I can't comment because we're not close to anything at this moment in time. We're in talks with a few different options but they're not imminent right now. We're trying to work hard behind the scenes. To see if we can strengthen.

“(There is) nothing imminent for this weekend but the club's working hard on (signing a striker).

“I'm looking at all positions, I think you have to as a manager and a club. If something becomes available that you think can improve and help what you already have, you have to be in a position to try and do that. We know what market we're working in and how competitive that is.

“But it's not just one position, if you're a football club you should be looking consistently and continuously in all areas.

“Of course I'd like another striker, a different type of striker to what we've got.

“If you can bring someone in that can improve you and it's within the right frames financially and football-wise, that's something you should always look to do as a football club.”

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today.

Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers.

So, please - if you can - pay for our work. Just £5 per month is the starting point. If you think that which we are trying to achieve is worth more, you can pay us what you think we are worth. By doing so, you will be investing in something that is becoming increasingly rare. Independent journalism that cares less about right and left and more about right and wrong. Journalism you can trust.

Thank you,

James Mitchinson