Alan Biggs: Sheffield Wednesday need as many out as they do in ... but who would take them?

One certainty is that while signings must top the transfer window agenda, it’s a huge handicap that the club is bereft of major saleable assets.

It’s here, when it comes to reshaping a horribly unbalanced squad, that Pulis is likely to make his opinions felt as strongly as in who he signs.

We all know what Wednesday need, primarily at the top of the pitch, but it’s equally obvious that the owner has been massively short-changed for his lavish investment in the team, particularly on wages.

And the resurfacing of rumours last week of players being paid late only highlights this damaging reality - amid reports of a Championship wages cap being introduced imminently.

Much of a muchness can run out of control and sometimes it can be about simply cutting your losses because the price will be paid in the long run anyway.

The club has few playing assets. Perhaps the biggest - potentially - is (was) Dominic Iorfa, now ruled out for the rest of the season in as damaging an injury blow as the club could have suffered.

Barry Bannan? Rightly admired but, at 31, unlikely to attract that irresistible bid and, besides, his quality in this squad is too rare to lose, hence a well deserved new deal offer. But will he take it?

Kadeem Harris? Worth at least £5m of anyone’s money at this level in my opinion but his value could be dragged down by his team’s struggle.

Same with Adam Reach and almost everywhere you look; Reach also worth securing on fresh terms tabled. Josh Windass was a good signing.

Wednesday do have some decent players. You can make a case for any number of solid performers who, individually, can’t be blamed for the club’s plight. Tom Lees, for instance.

But there is no-one, perhaps Bannan apart currently, who you could describe as indispensable.

Hence a nondescript side. I think there are some good characters, including Moses Odubajo despite the midweek misunderstanding of his “celebrating” an opposition goal, and it is not their fault that the balance is badly wrong with the team bereft of strikers.

But the point is that nearly everyone is expendable and, in most cases, not for very much - be it for a fee or, more likely, a loan offer.

I think the Owls have to be open in a big way to shuffling the pack as Pulis surveys a squad of pushing 30 seniors. The problem is the injuries biting into numbers.

It’s in January that I think we’ll see, for the longer term, the likelihood of a lasting relationship between the new manager and the club’s owner.

Pulis has had many run-ins with chairmen and is uncompromising when it comes to doing what he thinks is best for a club.

It was significant, I thought, that he made a point at his unveiling that he would be “very honest” with chairman Dejphon Chansiri and might sometimes tell him things he wouldn’t like to hear. Last week he talked again of “speaking his mind.”

Personally I believe this is the type of straightforward approach Chansiri needs and I hope it works for both of them.

The reality is that Wednesday don’t have a lot to bargain with right now - save for the benefit of Chansiri’s commendable commitment and funding.

Recruitment has to be good, of course, but I doubt the Owls can be quite so picky when it comes to offloading players of limited appeal.

Right now they’re going down. Definitely.