Shea Charles has been recalled by Southampton and will not see out the season with Sheffield Wednesday.

Owls chairman Dejphon Chansiri dropped the bombshell news at the very end of a fan forum that stretched over five hours, wandering back into the room having received a phone call. The Star revealed earlier this week that the recall clause held by parent club Southampton ended today - suggesting Wednesday were informed of their decision late in the day.

Chansiri had earlier in the evening expressed a confidence key man Charles would stay on at S6. “Let’s see what we can do,” he said. Put to him by a fan that without Charles the club will struggle to maintain their tilt at the play-offs, the Wednesday chairman replied: “In football it is not about individual players, it is about the team. Even if you have the best players and the other players do not support you, you cannot do anything.

“Of course we like him, but what can we do? It is out of our control. I mentioned at the beginning my opinion; he is not ready for the Premier League. Southampton in this situation he cannot help, Southampton need a better player than this... Let’s see. If they do that, maybe we do something. Let’s see. Someone damage us then we can damage them as well, let’s see.”

The Northern Ireland international played 24 matches across all competitions for Wednesday, scoring once and adding four assists. The news will come as a hammer blow to the Owls, who sit in 10th place, three points short of the top six.

It came as the full-stop on an evening during which Chansiri explained he and manager Danny Röhl had not spoken since December - and put the onus on his manager to approach him to discuss transfer activity.