Josh Windass warned of 'risk and reward' if swapping Sheffield Wednesday for Santos

As previously reported by The Star, Santos have come forward to the Owls with a six-figure offer that was quickly knocked back by the club, and it remains to be seen whether they will come back with an improved offer in an attempt to get their man. Manager, Pedro Caixinha, knows Windass from their time together at Rangers, and tried to sign him before at Club Atlético Talleres - but that attempt proved to be unsuccessful.

Esteemed expert in South American football, Tim Vickery, has now spoken about what a move could possibly mean for the 30-year-old if he was to swap England for Brazil, admitting that there would be an element of ‘risk and return’ given the pressures of playing at Pele’s old club - suggesting that it may not be plain sailing over in Serie A.

Speaking to talkSPORT this week, Vickery said, “It’s the coach, Pedro Caixinha, one of those wandering, nomadic Portuguese coaches who was in charge of Rangers seven or eight years ago now when Windass was there… Caixinha has been in Brazil for the last couple of years and just taken charge at Santos, and he’s looking to strengthen the squad.

“Santos are obviously Pele’s old club, and when we were growing up they were really the only Brazilian club that we’d heard of - and at the pomp of Pele they were probably the best club side in the world. That’s amazing when you factor in that Santos is a little port city with less than half a million - by the standards of big Brazilian cities that is tiny. It’s amazing that Santos were consistently able to out-produce the giants of Sao Paulo with like 20 million people…

“These days it’s a little bit of a problem, because now the financial differences have opened up it’s almost impossible for Santos to compete unless they can find a big money investor - which is a possibility but hasn’t happened yet. They spent last season in the second division and have just come up, and Caixinha’s come in and is looking to strengthen.

“From the point of view of Josh Windass there are definitely pros and cons here. And the big pro is - imagine playing for Pele’s old club. It’s probably worth having grandchildren just so you can tell them that! But the risk is, that it’s such a demanding place to play your football… When they got promoted last year they won the second division - but sacked the coach because they thought he was too defensive. In the kind of collective mentality of the fans the bar is Pele. Anything less and you’re going to get stuff thrown at you!

“So it’s well possible that Josh Windass, because he’d stick out as a foreigner, could be held up by the fans as a symbol of the decline… But it’s about risk and return.”

There are around three weeks left of the transfer window before it slams shut in early February, and both Danny Röhl and Wednesday’s supporters will be hoping that their number 11 is still donning blue and white by the time it does.