Why Sheffield Wednesday may need to bring in a new goalkeeper before the summer transfer window shuts
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Academy graduate Wildsmith faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury in their friendly against VfB Lubeck. The 23-year-old sustained the knock in the second half of the Owls' 1-0 defeat at Stadion Lohmuhle in Germany.
Lee Bullen, the caretaker Wednesday boss, said Wildsmith could "potentially" be out of action for three months.
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Hide Ad"He has damaged his posterior cruciate ligament," Bullen told The Star. "He dived at the feet of one of their (Lubeck's) strikers in a 50/50 challenge.
"Their striker was half a second late and caught Joe slap bang on the knee and unfortunately he has a little tear there which is going to need a fair bit of rest."
Wildsmith's injury leaves the Owls with two recognised senior goalkeepers in Keiren Westwood and Cameron Dawson heading into the 2019/20 season, which gets under way in just over a week.
Bullen, who has put his hat in the ring to replace Steve Bruce as boss, said: "It is a big blow to Joe because he has been doing really well in pre-season. He has been outstanding and we are lucky enough to have three really, really good goalkeepers.
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Hide Ad"But it (the goalkeeping situation) is an aspect we are going to have to address as a club after Joe's injury. We may have to look potentially at bringing someone in or look at the academy and see what is there.
"But that is a discussion for us to have with the chairman and we will see if we can get the right strength in depth there.
"With Joe out for a while, we need to make sure we have adequate cover because all it takes is another silly little knock which injures somebody for a couple of weeks and we are sort of left a little bit high and dry.
"We have to be very careful with that situation and not be left short."
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Hide AdWildsmith has slipped behind Westwood and Dawson in the pecking order for a starting berth in the past 12 months. He made just two appearances last term, with his last Owls outing coming against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the League Cup in August.
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