Sheffield Wednesday: Xisco Munoz called Watford signing a "complete player" but he flopped spectacularly | OneFootball

Striker Ashley Fletcher failed to live up to manager Xisco Munoz's high expectations after his loan move to Sheffield Wednesday.

After their dramatic promotion from League One, the summer of 2023 should have been full of excitement for Sheffield Wednesday supporters, but it did not work out that way.

Having overturned a four-goal deficit from the first leg against Peterborough United to reach the final, Wednesday secured promotion back to the Championship with a 1-0 win over Barnsley at Wembley thanks to Josh Windass' 123rd-minute winner, completing one of the most remarkable play-off campaigns in EFL history.

However, just three weeks after achieving promotion, the Owls shocked the football world when they announced that they had parted company with manager Darren Moore by mutual consent, leaving supporters baffled and frustrated in equal measure.

After an unsettling two-week wait for an appointment, former Watford manager Xisco Munoz was unveiled as Moore's replacement, and given that the Spaniard had won automatic promotion with the Hornets during his only previous managerial stint in the Championship, his arrival was greeted with cautious optimism.

With Munoz not taking charge until early July, Wednesday had fallen well behind their second tier rivals in terms of transfer business, and they did not make their first signing of the summer until just over a week before the start of the new season.

As the Owls rushed to assemble a squad, an influx of new additions came through the door over the following few weeks, including striker Ashley Fletcher, who made a season-long loan move to Hillsborough from Watford.

Xisco Munoz's glowing Ashley Fletcher comments after Sheffield Wednesday move

It was the second time that Munoz had signed Fletcher during his managerial career after bringing him to Watford in the summer of 2021 following his departure from Middlesbrough.

After his underwhelming loan spell at Wigan Athletic in the Championship the previous season, during which he scored just two goals in 28 games, Fletcher admitted that he was facing "probably the most important year of my career" following his move to Wednesday.

Given his close relationship with Munoz, Owls supporters hoped that their new manager would be able to help Fletcher rediscover the form he showed earlier in his career at Middlesbrough following his £6.5 million switch to the Riverside Stadium.

Munoz spoke of his delight after landing Fletcher's signature, telling The Yorkshire Post: "For me, Fletcher is a complete player. He is a target man and has the philosophy to move into space. He was with me at Watford and knows exactly what I want from strikers.

"We have the time for Fletcher, he is a important player who has come in."

However, those comments raised a few eyebrows as Fletcher did not make a single appearance for Watford in the Premier League under Munoz, and his career goalscoring record, particularly after leaving Middlesbrough, certainly did not look like that of a 'complete player'.

Ashley Fletcher loan deal turned out to be a disaster for Sheffield Wednesday

The warning signs that Wednesday had made a mistake in signing Fletcher emerged early in his loan spell as he struggled to break into the team, and in a big shift from his initial comments, Munoz suggested that he was less than impressed with what he had seen from the striker.

When asked if he needed more from Fletcher, Munoz told The Yorkshire Post: "One hundred percent. He is one of the important players here and I need more from him."

Munoz was sacked in October after failing to win any of his 12 games in charge in all competitions, departing with the Owls sitting bottom of the Championship table, and there were big question marks over whether Fletcher had a future at the club under new manager Danny Rohl.

While it may have been more out of desperation due to Wednesday's goalscoring problems, Fletcher was handed a surprise second chance, and the former Manchester United man featured fairly regularly during the early stages of Rohl's tenure, with the German praising him for his hard work in training.

Although Fletcher was still unable to get himself on the scoresheet, there was a small improvement in his game, and he did occasionally make an impact after coming off the bench, but as his goal drought continued, Rohl gradually began to lose faith in the 29-year-old.

The final straw for Rohl came when, just 13 minutes after being introduced as a substitute, Fletcher was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in a 2-0 win at Millwall last February - one of which was for kicking the ball away and the other for an unnecessary foul in stoppage time.

After that incident, Fletcher did not make a single further appearance for the Owls during the remainder of the season, featuring in the matchday squad on just two occasions, and he ended his time at Hillsborough having failed to score in 28 games.

Thankfully for Wednesday, Fletcher's lack of goals did not cost them as they secured Championship survival in his absence, but the striker, who now plays for League One side Blackpool, will not be fondly remembered in South Yorkshire.