Youngster Jaden Heskey has been on a voyage of discovery in his loan at Sheffield Wednesday.
Manchester City have provided positive feedback to Sheffield Wednesday with regard to the Owls’ handling of loanee youngster Jaden Heskey, Henrik Pedersen has told The Star. The midfielder has been a near ever-present since joining the club in January, where he re-joined his former City youth boss Craig Mudd.
Though there is a doubt over a mystery Wednesday player heading into this afternoon’s trip to Oxford United, Heskey is otherwise expected to start a 16th game in 18 matches since his debut Owls performance against Portsmouth on January 17. A strong effort in their narrow defeat at Middlesbrough on Wednesday evening saw him adapt to two different roles during the game - a further sign of his development and maturity in what has been a busy loan stint.
“He has developed a lot,” Pedersen said. “I think he's tactical, so strong, together with his physical ability and his technical ability, that I think he's a strong number six. Because his running capacity is strong, he's technically good as a six. He's started to be much better on the ball, to not only play sidewards, backwards.
“He started to speed up the game in many more situations. He started to bypass many more opponents. And when he plays the 10th position, he has this verticality in his run. He has the power in his run and he's a fantastic first-pressing player. And he has the advantage. He can run to space, but he can also receive in the pocket.
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“And his way to be a part of something, when you do this, I have to do this, to see himself as a part of the game. I think he's strong. It's a big advantage that he can play more positions and it's a big strength that a young guy can change through the game from situation to situation and position to position.”
Wednesday have been in close contact with Heskey’s parent club throughout and have shared data as City look to keep a keen eye on how he is progressing. The two clubs share a fond relationship and feedback from the Premier League side on the Owls’ management of his loan sounds encouraging.
“It has been very good, very positive,” Pedersen continued. “We are very close in contact. We have a database together with Man City so they can see all the training he's doing, all the analysis from the training, all his individual training.
“They can see all the game feedback we're giving him after each game, so then we can speak about his individual development week to week. So there is a close contact and there has to be a close contact. It's good. Yeah, really good in this way, from Man City. Really good.”
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