Sheffield Wednesday consider former Middlesbrough and Cardiff City man as Portsmouth midfielder reveals mid-table is not an option for Danny Cowley's League One side

The Black Cats welcome Mansfield Town to Wearside in the first round looking to progress to the next stage for the first time since 2018.

But here we look at what has been happening around League One over the past 24 hours.

Owls considering attacking options

Sheffield Wednesday boss Darren Moore has revealed ‘the signs are good’ when talking of the possibility of bringing in former Middlesbrough and Cardiff City wideman Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.

The Owls are one of the lowest scorers in the top half of the League One table despite their recent 3-0 success over the Black Cats and boss Moore is considering the option of bolstering his ranks with the 29-year-old.

Mendez-Laing has been without a club since leaving the Riverside in the summer and has been training with the Yorkshire club recently.

And speaking to Yorkshire Live Moore said: “The signs are good with him. It is too early to make a decision on him. I feel with that type of player it would be silly for us to not look at him. He’s a free transfer and we are having a look at him. He asked for the opportunity to come in. If it was right for us, I don’t see any reason why not. You can never have enough attacking players. Scoring goals is probably one of the hardest parts of the game.”

Mid-table not good enough for Portsmouth

Portsmouth midfielder Louis Thompson has squashed talk of his side settling for a season of mediocrity despite a slow start to the League One season in which Pompey find themselves 14th in the table, seven points adrift of the play-off places.

Danny Cowley’s side have won just one of their last five games but Thompson insists there is nobody writing this season off just yet.

Speaking to The News, Thompson said: “I don’t think there’s anyone in our dressing room who would settle for mid-table. We need to keep chasing that performance, we need to get towards that perfect performance. I think from that, the outcomes will arrive for us. The process has to be drilled into us, and from there the results will come.

“I’ve been involved in a couple of promotions and I understand what it takes,” added the midfielder who was part of a promotion winning Norwich City side.

“I know we’re not a million miles from that. I really believe it will come.

“The squad has quality. There’s no doubt about that in my mind. The midfield is stacked for this level, in my opinion.

“When I think back to Norwich and the days I was there, there was a big turnover and we finished 14th [before winning the Championship title the following season].

“That wouldn’t be acceptable here, so we need to be speeding up the process of learning. Once we do that I think the results will come.”

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