Sheffield Wednesday boss explains contract ‘options’ with Owls stars nearing deadline

Talks over future deals have been put on hold in the senior ranks at Hillsborough as they focus all their attentions on trying to get out of League One, but at some point in the coming weeks that will have to change.

The likes of Liam Palmer, Dominic Iorfa, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Dennis Adeniran are set to leave the club in the summer as things stand, though there will be discussions around all of them, however things are different when it comes to players such as George Byers and Lee Gregory.

It’s thought that Byers and Gregory both have one-year options on their deals, whilst there is also believed to be an option on Josh Windass – though the details of that aren’t 100% clear at this stage.

When Darren Moore was asked about the options on contracts at S6, he explained that they have until a fixed date to exercise them, with that date set for a point after the season has come to an end.

“So there are options, and they’re for the club,” he told The Star. “We can trigger that with the player if the club sees fit, which means that they’re then contracted for a further year or two - or however long that agreement in the contract is.

“It’s got to be done by a certain date, but that date is always out of the season - and you can trigger it by that day. If that date passes then the player will be entitled to leave on a free.”

Another version of deals that Wednesday utilise are those with contract clauses in them rather than options, which mean they are automatically triggered if x is achieved.

For instance Barry Bannan had an appearance-related clause in his deal that kicked in for another year recently – Jack Hunt is believed to have similar one but it’s unlikely that he’ll hit that tally now.

More will become clear in terms of Wednesday’s plans for 2023/24 when they know which division they’ll be playing in.

MORE: Sheffield Wednesday quartet amongst those looking likely to leave the Owls