Even the mention of Jamie Vardy and Sheffield Wednesday shows a club on the up
Jamie Vardy is on the market again and there’s a romantic link back to Sheffield Wednesday
Go ahead, it’s fair game to put Jamie Vardy and Sheffield Wednesday into the same sentence. And safe. I mean, it probably won’t happen - but the point is, who’s laughing?
Attempts to talk up a return by a storybook goalscorer rejected by the Owls as a kid, are not the issue.
The thing is, you can’t entirely rule it out. And when was the last time Wednesday were linked with a Premier League winning former England international?
The speculation alone, and the fact it wasn’t roundly dismissed, is a powerful statement of what might be possible under the ownership of the Arise group.
Vardy is leaving Italian club Cremonese with any number of English possibilities opening up, not least a comeback at Leicester where his title-winning feat seems all the more remarkable now that the Foxes have joined the Owls in sliding to League One.
So, for me, an S6 return remains a real long shot. Vardy, sprightly at 39, might want to stay higher, with even speculation of Premier League interest.
For Wednesday themselves, there are also other factors. Budget restrictions for one, although the box office appeal would obviously be great.
Another would be the age balance of the side. A return for another veteran in former skipper Barry Bannan is already high up the agenda.
I find it hard to imagine that the Owls would go hell for leather for both and not only for financial considerations.
But, as I said at the top, just the link is telling. Wednesday haven’t been bracketed with players of anything like a similar stature since the arrival of Bannan himself more than a decade ago.
It’s a sign of a club on the turn that we can even discuss these things.