The England Under-20 international made a deadline day move to Hillsborough and is in line to make his debut at Swansea City on Sunday
Barry Cooper Hull City correspondent
13:30, 05 Feb 2026
Joel Ndala spent the first half of the season on loan at Hull City
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Joel Ndala spent the first half of the season on loan at Hull City(Image: Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Joel Ndala says it was a no-brainer decision to join Sheffield Wednesday, despite the Owls being almost 40 points from safety and heading down to League One after a disastrous season.
The 19-year-old winger had been on loan at Hull City in the first half of the campaign from Manchester City, but had begun to find his opportunities limited at the MKM Stadium.
City head coach Sergej Jakirovic was keen for Ndala to remain for the final weeks of the season, though opportunities may well have become increasingly few and far between following the January arrivals of Yu Hirakawa and Lewis Koumas.
Those two arrivals, along with Toby Collyer, took the number of loans in City's squad to seven, with only five allowed in a matchday squad, and he was therefore left out of the win at Blackburn Rovers.
In a bid to build on the Championship experience he gained with City in the first half of the season, Ndala decided to go to Hillsborough, where he's likely to play every week as the Owls attempt to summon up some on-pitch positivity going into a summer rebuild.
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"Yes, I am very happy. Obviously, I know Sheffield Wednesday - they are a big club," Ndala told the Owls' YouTube channel after sealing his move across Yorkshire, before going on to explain his first impressions of boss Henrik Pedersen. "There was a lot of waiting (on deadline day), being on my phone but we got there. I knew about the interest when Sheff (sic) played Hull (City on Boxing Day). When I found out I could come here and help the team in any way I could, it was a no-brainer, really.”
“He (Pedersen) is a really good guy, a good human being, and he looks like the type of guy who cares a lot about you as a person first,” Ndala continued, speaking about the Owls manager. The football comes after, but it is you as a person first, and I really like it.
“He seems like a manager that wants you to do well. The club is in an unfortunate situation, but the vibe around the place isn’t down; everyone’s happy, bubbly, and I feel welcome.
“It is a tough situation to be in. It would be easy to just put your head down, but it is nice that the team is trying to fight to do as well as they can. They have got a good manager behind them to do so. Excitement, unpredictability, skills, creating chances and scoring goals.
During his stay at City, Ndala played 17 times under Sergej Jakirovic, admitting that those experiences in the Championship have certainly helped improve the defensive side of his game.
"It's a physical league. It's a tough league, but it's a good challenge, you know, and hopefully coming here, I can showcase a lot more of my skills going forward, helping the team in any way that I can.
"It's really been helpful on the pitch-wise, I'd say, defensively and stuff. So, you've got to be a lot more switched on because teams do punish if you're not in the right positions or you're not really aware of your surroundings and stuff. So, I think coming here would just improve my development even more."
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