‘Imminent’ club takeover could change landscape of Sheffield Wednesday’s chase for key signing

The situation surrounding one of Sheffield Wednesday’s key summer transfer targets could be about to change fairly dramatically, if reports are to be believed.
By Alex Miller
Published 14th Jun 2022, 05:00 BST
Updated 14th Jun 2022, 13:41 BST
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Harlee Dean impressed while on loan at Wednesday in the second half of last season despite injuries curtailing his progress.

The 30-year-old started last season as club captain at Birmingham City but fell out of favour under manager Lee Bowyer and became available in the January window.

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It has been reported that Wednesday are keen on bringing Dean to Hillsborough permanently and that they have been ‘keeping tabs’ on his situation this summer.

Sheffield Wednesday transfer target Harlee Dean could have his situation change at Birmingham City.Sheffield Wednesday transfer target Harlee Dean could have his situation change at Birmingham City.
Sheffield Wednesday transfer target Harlee Dean could have his situation change at Birmingham City.
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Dean’s wages appear to be a major stumbling block in any potential deal but he remains out of favour under Bowyer and Birmingham are believed to be open to letting him leave the club for nothing in the coming weeks.

But news of an imminent takeover of Birmingham threatens to change the landscape of Dean’s future.

Laurence Bassini, the controversial former owner of Watford, is reported to have exchanged contracts over the £35m purchase of the St Andrews club, with Bassini himself telling Birmingham Live he expects the deal to be completed in the next few days.

MORE: Shock transfer saga set to end as Sheffield Wednesday look to bring new players in

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The report states Bassini will seek to shake-up things up when it comes to the decision-making roles at the club, saying he seeks to act not as a chairman but as an owner and that he will appoint a board of ‘very experienced footballing people’.

Quite where this leaves Bowyer remains to be seen. It had been reported that Bassini would be keen to bring in former QPR manager Mark Warburton as manager, one of Dean’s former managers from their time together at Brentford.

Warburton is understood to have remained a keen admirer of Dean, his former captain at Griffin Park, and was understood to have been interested in taking him to Nottingham Forest and QPR since selling him to Birmingham in 2017.

MORE: Terms agreed, medical scheduled – Sheffield Wednesday transfer of former Fulham man getting closer

Dean’s Bowyer bridges appeared to have had been burned a touch by comments made by the two men through the media after his Wednesday arrival.

A switch to appoint Warburton may well see any notion of the defender leaving Birmingham dealt a significant blow.

Related topics:Mark WarburtonBirmingham CityHillsboroughQPR