Sheffield Wednesday have slumped to 15th in the Championship.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal has been asked whether or not signing a player with pace will be his absolute priority during the January transfer window.
Wednesday have failed to win any of their last five Championship fixtures and have drifted to 15th place – 10 points off the play-off positions.
The Owls’ frequent inability to break down defensive sides – as well as having an uncharacteristically porous back line – is perceived by many to be the main source of their downfall this season.
It is an assessment with which Carvalhal concurs, although he failed to directly answer the question that was put to him by BBC Radio Sheffield reported Rob Staton [via the club’s official Facebook page] and suggested that he may not need to strengthen in that department.
“I agree [that Wednesday need more players with pace who can run at teams], but we talk more about this because we don’t have [Fernando] Forestieri,” he said.
“You can say to me, okay, we don’t have Forestieri but we can achieve [sign] a different player with pace. The problem is that, first, we don’t expect that he would be injured. And second, to achieve a player of Forestieri’s ability, you must spent £10-or-15-million and you are under the Financial Fair Play and we can’t do that.
“His injury made an emergency in that moment. If you remember he had the surgery maybe three or four days after the close of the [summer] transfer window.
“If you ask me, if the surgery was one day before the transfer window, if we need a player with pace and with some skills, absolutely, I will try to achieve one.”
Carvalhal has previously shared his expectation that Forestieri, who has finished as Sheffield Wednesday’s top scorer in each of his two previous Hillsborough campaigns, will be back in contention before the end of January.
Earlier this week, the Argentina-born player posted via his Instagram account a video of his recovery in Rome. It is unclear when he will return to Sheffield and begin full training.
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