Agent Barry Bannan – How ‘Baz’ made sure Jack Hunt ended up back at Sheffield Wednesday

The re-signing of Jack Hunt was a deal that came as a surprise to plenty of Wednesday fans, especially given the fact that he is thought to have had plenty of options in the Championship and had been playing regularly at that level for some years now.

But re-sign he did, securing a move to Darren Moore’s side as the Owls go in search of an automatic promotion back in the second tier at the first time of trying following last season’s relegation.

Hunt and Moore had plenty of conversations, and the full back said he was incredibly impressed by the Owls boss, but there was no way he wasn’t getting the lowdown from his old mate ‘Baz’ as well…

Speaking to The Star ahead of today’s season opener against Charlton Athletic, Hunt said, “We’ve been friends for nearly 10 years, so I knew he’d give me an honest opinion on how the club was and how the manager was – so I did want to check in with him on that… But my most important question was to see if he was staying.

“You can never say never in football, everyone knows that, but he gave me a great answer as far as he was concerned. And that was enough for me.”

And Bannan absolutely corroborated that, with a smile, but admitted that the former Owl didn’t take much persuading to get him back to Hillsborough…

Bannan told The Star, “He was a bit worried about me leaving – he didn’t know what to do. So he phoned me to ask if I was staying, and stuff. I was bigging the club up to him and telling him to come, because I know he’s a good player and we need players like that in the club…

“He didn’t take much persuading though, he’s been here before and he loves the club. He was pretty set on coming anyway, but I think I just pushed it over the line for him.”

Sheffield Wednesday complete signing number 11, but it's a number 9!