Garry Monk has hailed the work put in by injured Sheffield Wednesday man Steven Fletcher as he goes through his rehabilitation process to recover from a knee injury.

The Scottish international was in marvellous form in the first half of the season, scoring 12 goals, before he suffered a very frustrating setback.

In the FA Cup Third Round win over Brighton, the striker was forced off with a knee injury and was ruled out for 8-10 weeks.

However, it appears that the Owls’ top scorer will not be out for too much longer as he recovers ahead of time, and looks set to return in early March.

The Owls have been struggling ever since then, with just one league win in 2020, and not scoring as many goals without their key attacker. Connor Wickham and Josh Windass have since arrived to help add more firepower to Monk’s attack and the latter scored on his debut against Barnsley on Saturday.

Speaking to the club’s official website, Monk commented on how well Fletcher is progressing to get back into the squad in time to get the Owls’ play-off push back on track. He stated: “Fletcher is doing fantastic.

“He was well on his way to having his most successful season but look, that happens.

“We have tried to adapt with it and everyone that has come in and given their best.

“It was an area we needed to strengthen anyway but then the injury to Fletch made it more important to try and find that quality that can help in that area.

“We’ve managed to do that and hopefully that will give us good impetus and we’ll see that in the coming games.”

Speaking on whether he can set a specific timescale for the striker’s return, Monk added: “Hopefully he’ll be back at the start of March.

“He is doing really well in his rehabilitation, we can’t put a specific date on it but we have been told, speaking with the medical department, around the start of March.

“Whether that be the first or second week, it’s a lot brighter than we originally thought and hopefully he’ll come back and play a part this season.”

A return at the beginning of March could see Fletcher be passed fit just in time for the Owls to welcome Manchester City to Hillsborough in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

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The verdict

At 32-years-old, it’s surprising to see Fletcher recover so quickly from a knee injury that looked like keeping him out until around April.

It’s a massive boost for Wednesday to get him back so quickly and potentially help get their play-off push back on track, as they have faltered massively in recent weeks.

Adding Fletcher to their attack along with the signings of Wickham and WIndass makes for a very strong frontline that could easily help them towards the top six.

With such an injury though, it might be a risk to get him straight back in the starting lineup right away, as they could potentially aggravate it more.