Brentford test Sheffield Wednesday's resolve with further bids for Barry Bannan: Reports

Sky Sports reported earlier this week that the promotion hopefuls has launched a shock move for the 30-year-old midfielder and say that bids in the region of £1.5m were knocked back earlier today.

Bannan, who is one of Wednesday’s longest-serving players having joined in 2015, is the Owls’ main creative source and took over the captaincy full time from Tom Lees in the summer. Only West Brom’s Matheus Pereira created more chances than the diminutive Scot in the Championship last season.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s clash at Birmingham City, Owls boss Garry Monk shrugged off any notion of Bannan’s departure and confirmed that the club were readying talks for a new contract.

Bannan has previously complimented the Bees on their style of play and earlier this year clarified comments he made on how he felt he would fit into their expansive style of play.

Quizzed on reports of a Brentford approach during the week, Monk said: “With Barry I’ve had no communication from the club in terms of anything like that.

“In terms of Barry, I’ve had discussions with the club a long time ago about how important Baz is to what I want to do here, and a big part of giving him the captaincy was looking into the future.

“He’s one of those ones where we’re going to try and negotiate a new contract, but he’s an important, integral part of moving forward. Baz knows that, he’s mentioned before how he loves the club, loves being here and wants to be part of the future – so as far it stands today, Barry knows what the club and I think of him, so I’m sure moving forward he’ll be a part of that.

“He’s a big part of what I want to do, he’s a fantastic player, a great professional who I love working with. He’s a talent. We have to be able to keep those players… Barry has to be here, that’s my view on it, and I’m confident that that’ll be sorted moving forward.”

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