Sheffield Wednesday received a boost on Friday as two out-of-contract players signed new deals to remain at Hillsborough.
Midfielder James O’Connor has signed a new one-year deal with the Owls. The Irishman has made over 100 appearances for the club and his experience should be a valuable asset to the squad. His performances overall during his 3 seasons at the club so far have been patchy but his effort can never be called into question and he showed more consistency towards the end of the last campaign under new manager Gary Megson.
Utility defender Lewis Buxton has signed a two-year deal to continue his career with Wednesday. Buxton joined the Owls from Stoke City and in just under 3 seasons with the club he is currently 6 games short of playing 100 times for the Owls.
After an indifferent start to his Wednesday career Buxton has won the fans at Hillsborough over with consistent defensive displays in a variety of positions. He was one of the few players to come out of the last season with any real credit and his presence in the side was missed when he was side-lined on a number of occasions by a troublesome hamstring injury. Capable of playing at centre-back and right-back, Buxton flourished in the left-back spot in the final few games of last season and his decision to stay at Hillsborough will be seen as a real positive as it was rumoured that he had attracted interest from clubs further up the league ladder.
Gary Megson will be delighted by the fact that two of the three out-of-contract players he has offered contracts to have decided to stay at Hillsborough. Winger Jermaine Johnson is yet to make a decision on where his future lies. Having released a couple of players of the past week Megson’s squad is now starting to take shape and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some new faces arrive before the Owls fly out for their training camp in Austria on July 6th.