Sheffield Wednesday continue to be busy in the transfer market as they look to build in preparation for their return to the Championship this coming season. On Friday the Owls managed to secure the services of former West Bromwich Albion full-back Joe Mattock on a free transfer.
The 22-year-old, who has played around 100 games at Championship level, has signed a 3-year contract at Hillsborough. He is a left-back by trade and likes to get forward and join in attacks at every opportunity.
Mattock made his debut for Leicester City where he came through the youth ranks in 2007 and became a regular fixture in the side for the next two seasons. In the summer of 2009 Mattock joined West Brom for a fee of around £1M and over the course of the following season he played over 30 games for the Baggies, helping them secure promotion to the Premier League.
Despite being a regular in their successful Championship season Mattock could not find a place in the side in the Premier League and in January 2011 he was loaned out to Championship strugglers Sheffield United. Despite making 13 starts he could not prevent the Blades from being relegated.
Last season Mattock made a handful of appearances on loan at Portsmouth before having a successful spell at Brighton in the second half of the campaign where he played 15 times for the Seagulls. Manager Gus Poyet had been on record as stating his interest in bringing Mattock back to Brighton.
The move for Mattock could prompt some movement out of S6 in the near future given the amount of options the Owls now have at left-back. Reda Johnson was 1st choice in that role for most of the season but suffered an injury late on. Julian Bennett and Daniel Jones both have left-back as their preferred position and centre-back Mark Beevers did a reasonable job when asked to fulfil that role in the final few games.