Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal has no time for rumours over his future

Sheffield Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal

On Tuesday night, bookmakers shortened Carvalhal’s odds to become Gary Monk’s successor at the Liberty Stadium, with the Portuguese just behind Roberto di Matteo, Marcelo Bielsa, Gus Poyet and Jose Morais in the betting.

While conscious of the link, which he believes has arisen due to the renaissance in fortunes, form and playing style at Wednesday, he is giving little credence to what he has labelled as pure rumours.

On the link, he said: “It is probably because we are playing good positive football and really playing well and scoring goals. This kind of news can happen when we are doing all the work.

“But I can’t say nothing more than this. It is rumours and rumours are rumours. I am a professional and don’t talk about rumours. I am okay and preparing a team to play on Saturday in the same way as I was last week, with enthusiasm.”

Carvalhal was equally non-committal regarding talk suggesting Wednesday could make a move for Adebayor.

The 32-year-old is a free agent after leaving Spurs in September, with reports saying that Owls are willing to pay Adebayor up to £50,000 a week and that he could join on a short-term deal until the end of the season.

Carvalhal said: “It is a rumour. I have never heard about the possibility of Adebayor coming here. He is a fantastic player, but we have never talked about this.”

Meanwhile, Carvalhal has revealed that the Owls players will not train on Christmas Day in order for his squad to spend time with their families ahead of games with Birmingham and Middlesbrough amid a hectic schedule. The Owls’ coach is conscious of the need to keep players fresh given a lack of preparation time ahead of festive games.

He said: “I talked to the players and agreed to give them time with their families. But, when we give freedom, we want responsibility.

“I agree that we should play in this (Christmas) period. But when you play one day, you need more than one day to recover for the next game. We must respect this limit.”