'He wants to go' - Henrik Pedersen confirms 'big blow' to Sheffield Wednesday with 'top player' leaving
Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen has confirmed that Yan Valery is leaving the club.
The Owls, who have been stripped of first-team figures throughout the last 12 months, will lose another in the coming days as Valery moves away from Hillsborough on loan to join Swiss outfit, Young Boys.
It was first reported by The Star on Saturday that the Tunisian international was set to make the switch until the end of the season, and now his impending departure has been confirmed by the Owls boss. Valery, as well as Svante Ingelsson, missed out on the 4-0 defeat to Swansea City, however the latter was absent due to personal reasons and should return against Millwall.
Yan Valery is leaving Sheffield Wednesday
“Of course it’s a big blow to lose one of your best players,” Pedersen told The Star in Wales. “And it happened really quick, it came from nothing. It’s tough to lose a top player in the team…
“To lose Svante and Yan before the last training it’s tough, but then two other players got the chance. We just have to keep working with the players we have, and this is the situation now.”
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Meanwhile, on the topic of Valery’s exit, he also told Radio Sheffield, “He’s a really, really good player, it’s tough to lose him after the transfer window when it’s difficult to do something, but this is the situation. He wants to go, so we cannot change that - we can only try to get the best out of it…
“There has been interest before, but nothing concrete, it was only concrete yesterday morning. Then it went very, very quickly.”
The Owls take on the Lions on Saturday afternoon, and Valery’s move to Bern is expected to be announced well before Barry Bannan’s return to Hillsborough.