Bubbling nicely underneath the first team, young striker George Hirst’s development is offering plenty to be excited by for the coming years.
The 17-year-old frontman is thriving in the club’s Under-18 set-up and was on target again in the youngsters’ 2-1 win over Barnsley on Saturday.
Explaining very carefully the process with George, and indeed the other young professionals at the club, Carlos Carvalhal says the correct steps are in place to best aid their progress.
“We must give George the correct steps. It is very, very early to put him in the first team,” He said.
“He is not ready to play in the first team so it doesn’t make sense to ask a boy with big value to be put in the first team when we have players to go in that position.
“He is playing in Under-18s more often, he plays sometimes in Under-23s, he is scoring more goals in Under-18s, he scores some goals at Under-23s.
“We don’t want to create expectations he can’t follow so we must put things in the correct place.”
On top of his exploits at club level, Hirst has made headlines in the England youth system with goals for the Under-18s and glowing endorsements from the Three Lions’ camp.
Carlos continued: “He is a boy of 17 years of age who played in the cup, he is training with us more often so let’s see what he’ll do at the end of the season when we analyse his progression.
“I am sure he will play in the Sheffield Wednesday first team in the future but we must be calm with him.”