SHEFFIELD Wednesday’s bid to keep Jeremy Helan has led to the Owls forging links with Manchester City.
Dave Jones described as “very fruitful” a visit by him and coach Stuart Gray to the Premier League champions.
Jones’s immediate goal is to bring City’s Jeremy Helan back to Hillsborough after a successful loan spell - and he rates the chances of the winger being in the squad for tomorrow’s game at Charlton as “50-50”.
The player’s agent is believed to favour a full transfer, rather than a loan, and Jones also thinks he is a target for other clubs.
But Jones seems to be forging a warm relationship with City, saying: “Stuart and I were at Man City for three or four hours; we watched a bit of the training, met the manager and his staff, had a long chat about players’ future, things we would like to try and do. It was a very fruitful day.”
Jones will hope that it helped to smooth a path for Helan’s return - or perhaps improved the prospects of a future deal with City for another player.
He added that the Owls were looking at “different ways” of bringing Helan back.
“There can be lots of factors coming in, but we’re still in the mix.
“I spoke to him at their training ground. He likes it here. He’s comfortable here. We’ve just got to see what’s happening.”
Jones’s plans to strengthen his squad are still being held up by other clubs’ reluctance to let players go until they bring in new signings of their own - and he expects the market to be hectic on deadline day, next Thursday.
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