Sheffield Wednesday attacker makes Owls commitment after previous exit talks

The 28-year-old utility man was a target for his former club, Heart of Midlothian, during the last transfer window, with the Scottish outfit putting a number of bids to the Owls in an attempt to tempt them into selling him.

Darren Moore, however, was adamant that he didn’t want Paterson to leave though, and Wednesday rebuffed any advances from Robbie Neilson’s side – and the Owls boss didn’t seem too pleased with how much the situation was playing out in the public eye.

Paterson, though, says there were never any issues for him, and his commitment to the promotion cause has been – and still is – unwavering as Wednesday seek a return to the Championship.

Speaking to The Star about the situation in January, ‘Pato’ said, “I had a chat with him, and of course he wasn’t happy because he wants me to be here, and he wants me to be fully focused on Sheffield Wednesday - which I was at the time and which I still am.

“It’s part and parcel of football, people talk, and social media is quite a powerful thing these days - everything seems to spiral from there.

“But we had a chat, there were no problems from our side or Darren’s. He’s just happy that I’m in the building, and happy that I’m now available for games again.”

Neilson has since been fired by Hearts, and Paterson has admitted that even though his current deal will expire at the end of the season it’s a case of focusing on the task at hand before he worries about what happens at the end of the campaign.

“I want that promotion on my CV,” he’s said. “And we’ll see what happens from there… It’s easy for me to switch off from everything that’s going on on the outside and it’s a case of football, football, football. It’s a difficult run of games but me and everyone else wants that promotion and that’s our main focus.”

Wednesday face Exeter City on Saturday, a team against whom Paterson scored a late equaliser earlier in the season.

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