Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirović has urged former loanee Joel Ndala to prove himself amid his limited number of opportunities since joining Sheffield Wednesday last month.
Ndala, 19, spent the first half of the season on loan at the MKM Stadium before his spell in East Yorkshire was terminated and parent club Manchester City made the decision to send him to Hillsborough for the remainder of the campaign.
The winger, who was named in the England Under-20s squad on Friday, made 19 appearances during his time at Hull, scoring two goals, but opportunities dried up towards the end of his time with the Tigers, meaning a temporary switch to Wednesday, who, of course, have spent the entirety of this season competing at the other end of the division, looked as though it would provide him with more game time.
However, he has made just three starts since joining the Owls and has been omitted from the starting XI for each of the last four matches. He made his debut when Owls boss Henrik Pedersen decided to switch to a back-four against Swansea City last month, making room for wingers in the side, but he soon reverted to a three-at-the-back system, meaning Wednesday are once again operating with wing-backs in the wide areas.
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And ahead of the prospect of facing his former club at the MKM Stadium this afternoon, Ndala has been advised by his former boss to “prove everything on the pitch” amid the reality that his loan spell at Hillsborough has so far not gone according to plan.
Jakirović told Hull Live: "Of course, like Joel. He needs the minutes. Now he can see as well that he played much more in our team, which is fighting for the play-offs, than in Sheffield Wednesday.
“He must prove everything on the pitch, and for him, the decision was easy because he may have wanted to play more minutes, but OK.
“The other players are trying to improve. There are also young players who are very interesting.”
After being left out of the starting line-up for each of Wednesday’s last four matches, Owls chief Pedersen has challenged the Manchester City loanee to try and break into the team.
“I think the other guys have done it really well and the basic is the culture,” Pedersen told The Star. “These have been tough, tough games that we have played, where we have to do all the basics before we can start to think of other things.
“Here the other guys have been stronger than him. He has been working on this in the background and he knows he has to improve here. I think he had a good defensive performance when he came in today [vs Ipswich Town] and he was part of one possibility for the cutback. He is working hard to come back.”
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