Ex-Southampton and Birmingham City man 'agrees to join' Sheffield Wednesday - Danny Röhl reunion lined up

Wednesday are expected to be busy this summer, with Röhl having made no secret of his desire to get the bulk of his transfer business done as soon as possible in order to give himself the best possible opportunity to further bed in his ideas in pre-season.

Experienced goalkeeper Ben Hamer - who has worked previously with two members of Röhl’s coaching staff in Sal Bibbo and Chris Powell - is a name expected to be named as an Owls player in the coming weeks having left Watford on a free transfer.

And now it appears the German coach’s former Southampton colleague Yan Valery could well be lined up for a switch to Hillsborough, with respected outlet L’Equipe claiming he has agreed terms to join the club, leaving Wednesday and current side Angers to flesh out a transfer deal. The report suggests the two sides are in negotiations and that the recently promoted Ligue 1 side are willing sellers.

Valery is only 25 and has been most commonly used as an attack-minded right-back - though he can deputise as a right-sided midfielder or at centre-half. Listed at six-foot-one, the Champigny-sur-Marne-born defender played for France at youth level but since switched his allegiances to Tunisia for whom he has eight caps. He was on the bench for their 1-0 World Cup qualifying win over Equatorial Guinea this week. He made 35 appearances for Angers as they were promoted as runners-up in Ligue 2 last season, collecting five assists.

After coming through the youth ranks at Rennes, Southampton snapped him up as a teenager in 2018, shortly before Röhl arrived as assistant coach to Ralph Hasenhüttl. Valery made his Premier League debut just a couple of weeks before Röhl’s arrival at St Marys and became a mainstay in the side that pulled off a remarkable survival effort that season. He tallies 43 Premier League appearances in total and played seven times in the Championship during a loan spell with Birmingham City.