Sheffield Wednesday explain why Michael Hector return collapsed - anxiety over defensive depth addressed

The fan favourite free agent arrived at S6 towards the back end of the January transfer window and did well, the Owls boss said, though the ‘dynamics’ of the situation weren’t enough to see the club pursue the signing as they watched League One counterparts Charlton Athletic take him on until the end of the season.

The Star reported last weeks that exploratory talks between the two parties had revealed a split in where they saw the situation, with Wednesday’s need for a senior centre-half eased by the addition of Aden Flint on loan from Stoke City.

“We felt at the time it was difficult with free transfers,” Moore told The Star. “And in terms of where he was [fitness-wise], he was probably where we needed him to be at the time. It was about getting through the early stages collecting the data and everything else.

“It was something we decided against at the time. We thank him for his time here, he was good, back with friends, he knows the ground, the history of the club.

“But it didn’t materialise at the time we needed it to be at and that’s just the football side of it.”

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The Owls are also understood to have gone after at least one defender on deadline day – Celtic’s Stephen Welsh – though More insisted he is happy with his depth at the back following Flint’s arrival.

“We’d sought Aden a little while but getting him out of the club [Stoke City] was difficult,” Moore continued. “He wasn’t our player and we respect that.

“Michael came in as an addition whereby if that hadn’t worked maybe there was some potential there. You’re trying to cover all bases, really.

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“When the deal was done with Aden coming in, we felt ‘OK, we’ve got one in, can the dynamics work with Michael as well? Maybe’. It didn’t on this occasion.

“All that work was going on but once we signed Aden everybody breathed a sigh of relief because we needed that extra body in, especially with Ben, Icky and Mark McGuinness going.”