How Wycombe Wanderers came in late to steal Middlesbrough midfielder Lewis Wing away from Sheffield Wednesday

The 26-year-old signed on loan until the end of the season with Wednesday but was always subject to a recall clause at Boro.

After initially speaking about the potential need to call Wing back from his loan late last month to fulfil a fixture during a Covid outbreak, Boro boss Chris Wilder had intimated he would likely complete his time at Wednesday.

Speaking over the weekend, Darren Moore reiterated his desire to keep hold of Wing and talked down any notion of his loan stint being cancelled at Wednesday’s end.

But an astonishing late flurry saw him unveiled as a Wycombe player just minutes after The Star revealed their attempt to take him from the Hillsborough club.

The Star understands Gareth Ainsworth’s side were alerted to Wing’s potential availability only earlier in the day thanks to reports that fellow League One playoff hopefuls Portsmouth had enquired as to the possibility of signing him and that Boro would be open to alleviating him from their books.

That mooted deal fell through because Boro had asked Pompey to match Wednesday’s hefty wage contribution, which sources have told The Star was worth anywhere between 75% to 100% of his salary.

Wycombe and one other unnamed club are believed to have launched a late attempt to take him on a permanent deal, with Boro happy to offload a player who spent last season on loan at Rotherham United.

The Star understands that as of 10pm – just an hour before the deadline – Wing was still yet to put pen to paper as the finer points of the deal were thrashed out.

The last-gasp nature of the deal left little time for Wednesday to attempt to bring in a replacement midfielder. Wing’s exit does leave them a little light in that area after confirmation of the news that Dennis Adeniran would miss the rest of the season having undergone hamstring surgery.

Wing’s time with Wednesday was not a success. The 26-year-old played 24 times for the club across all competitions, scoring once in their Papa Johns Trophy match win over Mansfield Town.