It feels inevitable player won’t have a Watford FC future amid Sheffield Wednesday showing: View | OneFootball

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Ashley Fletcher has made just two starts for Sheffield Wednesday to date in spite of the club's struggles.

They won the League One playoffs at the end of last season and a swift return to the third tier looks highly likely unless something changes.

Wednesday are rock bottom of the Championship table and Fletcher hasn’t contributed a single goal or assist from his 10 league outings.

The 28-year-old is on loan at Hillsborough from Watford and based off of his current form at the top of the pitch, his future with the Hornets is very much up in the air.

Fletcher’s future at Watford

Ashley Fletcher first joined Watford in the summer of 2021 after a few years as a Middlesbrough player.

The striker has only made six appearances for his current employers owing in part to various loan spells. Previously he has gone elsewhere in England as well as venturing over to the USA.

Fletcher, currently of Sheffield Wednesday, played three times for Watford in the Premier League as well as featuring in the EFL Cup and FA Cup.

When you look at the current crop on the books at Vicarage Road, particularly in similar areas to Fletcher, it is hard to see a way into the starting XI for him.

Ken Sema and Tom Ince bring the experience and knowhow to the table at 30 and 31 respectively whilst Matheus Martins and Yaser Asprilla are a pair of youngsters being trusted by Valerien Ismael.

Asprilla scored a late winner against Fletcher’s current employers a couple of weeks ago and then last weekend, when Watford again won 1-0, it was Ken Sema who was on target.

Vakoun Bayo and Mileta Rajovic will be Fletcher’s primary competition when it comes to that central striker role and they lead the team for goals, with 4 apiece. Rajovic found the back of the net in the latest outing, a 2-2 draw at home with Millwall.

Fletcher did find the back of the net a couple of times for the Hornets, something which he has failed to do so for Wednesday thus far. As a result, he really does face an uphill battle if he wants to fight for a place at Watford upon the expiration of his current loan deal.

Weekly wages: Watford FC's top 10 highest earners (Ranked) (footballleagueworld.co.uk)

Unfulfilled potential

Ashley Fletcher came through the academy at Manchester United but it was when he made Premier League appearances for West Ham United that he first announced himself in this country.

He was one of a number of strikers to be given the chance to make a difference at the Irons and failed to do so, alongside Argentine Jonathan Calleri now of Sao Paulo.

Middlesbrough was where the forward played his best football to date, scoring 11 Championship goals and assisting seven in the 2019/20 season under the management of Jonathan Woodgate.

Since then he went across the pond to play for the New York Red Bulls and was unable to make his mark there, playing seven times and scoring no goals.

A player worth comparing Fletcher too is Cucho Hernandez in that he was a striker who didn’t quite excel at Watford and then went to Major League Soccer.

Hernandez’s tally of 16 this regular season for the Columbus Crew has been bettered by only three players in the division and so from Fletcher’s point of view, it is a real shame that he wasn’t able to become the latest player to successfully follow a trend set by Bradley Wright-Phillips and co.

Playing for Man United as a youngster is no mean feat and yet here he is at 28 without anything to really show for his career in all honesty.