'Rumours are true' - Manager confirms offers for Sheffield Wednesday, QPR and Portsmouth 'target'

Brisbane Roar head coach Ruben Zadkovich admits his side have received ‘a couple of offers’ for Sheffield Wednesday-linked striker Thomas Waddingham - although he wouldn’t divulge who those offers were from.

Wednesday are one of three Championship sides to have been linked with a move for Waddingham this month, with Football Insider recently claiming they and Queens Park Rangers had put forward offers. The News then reported on interest from Portsmouth, with Fratton Park chiefs said to be ‘exploring a potential deal’ for the 19-year-old.

As of Thursday evening, the Star understands reports of a formal bid from South Yorkshire were wide of the mark, with Wednesday’s level of interest in Waddingham not entirely clear. But there is no shortage of interest, particularly from the Owls’ Championship rivals, in the teenage goalscorer whose current club Brisbane are enduring a torrid campaign.

Roar boss on Waddingham

Roar are bottom of the A-League and winless from their opening 12 games, with Saturday’s 1-0 defeat against Melbourne City their 10th of the campaign already. Despite being under heavy pressure, manager Zadkovich left the in-form Waddingham out of his matchday squad and admitted after full-time it was a decision based on transfer discussions.

“Yeah it is, those rumours are true,” Zadkovich said (via the News). “Like I’ve been saying for a few weeks, there’s been a lot of interest around Tommy – and rightly so. I’m not going to talk about the inner workings of that deal, but let’s just say it’s a positive for Tommy and his career and it’s a positive for our club financially.”

The Roar boss was then asked specifically whether Portsmouth, widely regarded as frontrunners Down Under, were the team to reach an agreement. He added: “Look, there’s been a couple of offers to be honest and until it’s concrete, I’m not really going to comment on who that is.”

Wednesday’s Waddingham stance

While Waddingham may be on the radar of Hillsborough recruitment chiefs, there is a big gap between being interested in someone and lodging a formal bid, something the Star understands is yet to come from South Yorkshire. Danny Röhl had made clear his desire to sign ‘big impact’ players this month and while the Roar striker’s form is promising - he has four goals in 11 games this season - he is untried at Championship level.

“There are a lot of rumours and names at the moment!” a grinning Röhl told the Star ahead of Wednesday’s FA Cup penalty-shootout elimination at the hands of Coventry City on Saturday. “If there are any updates I will give you them, if it is possible, as soon as possible. But I will not make statements on individual players now.

“You see it in the whole market, there is a lot of activation in the market now, a lot of rumours, every club is linked with some players. You see there is really a challenge to get some players and you have to go all-in. Let’s see what we can do, we will try and hopefully we can edit some good players for our squad.”