Tom Lees on why out of contract players can be a good thing for Sheffield Wednesday

The Owls have a total of eight senior players whose contracts will expire at the end of the season, including last weekend’s starters Keiren Westwood and George Boyd.

And skipper Lees believes the upcoming period of transition at the club can be a positive as Owls chief Bruce looks to mould a promotion winning side for next season.

Although Wednesday are still mathematically within a chance of achieving a top six spot and a shot at promotion via the play-offs in the current campaign, Lees is looking forward to the challenge of a full season under the Owls’ four time promotion winning manager.

He said: "We'll keep going until we can't do it anymore but it's probably going to be a big ask.

"There is a reason why he [Steve Bruce] has had to come in you know.

“It is not going to happen overnight and it will be good for him to be able to put a stamp on the squad the way he wants to over the summer because I know there is a lot of people out of contract.

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“In some ways that might be a good thing because if he had a squad that he was not happy with and he had to work with it, then it makes things more difficult. But he can have the squad that he wants from next season really and we have got to buy into it and show that we deserve to be here next year.

"That's how I would probably describe him - a proper manager.

“He has played the game at the highest level and his mentality on a game day just rubs off on you and you want to do well so I yeah I'm looking forward to next season and it does feel good here and it feels like a lot better place."

Wednesday remain six points off of the play-off places with four matches of the 2018/19 season remaining.