Sheffield Wednesday ‘leading the race’ for Premier League loan signing – but who is Everton starlet Tom Cannon?

The Star understands the likes of Bournemouth defender James Hill and Stoke City’s Aden Flint are among the names being considered to bolster Wednesday’s defensive ranks.

But one outlying name in particular won’t seem to go away – with one media report suggesting Wednesday are ‘leading the race’ to sign Everton’s Tom Cannon.

Tom Cannon? Wasn’t he in a load of dodgy light entertainment shows back in the day?

Rock on, Tommy! Thankfully, Wednesday are not pursuing the signing of the ageing comedian and pantomime legend Tommy Cannon.

Instead, there is believed to be interest in Everton hot-shot Tom Cannon, a 20-year-old Republic of Ireland youth international with a burgeoning reputation in the youth game.

An out-and-out centre-forward, he has made his first steps into Premier League football recently, having come off the bench for the Toffees in back-to-back matches against Bournemouth and Wolves late last year. He’s did so in the EFL Cup, too, again against Bournemouth.

Signed to Everton from the age of 10, he has regularly been in the goals for the youth sides at Goodison Park and last season finished as the top goalscorer in their under-23 outfit.

At the 2020/21 Academy Awards he was chosen by coaches and staff to receive the club’s coveted Tony Heslop Award, which honours a player who “represents The People’s Club with distinction and passion”

What’s the story?

Reports in the national media have attributed Wednesday with loan interest in Cannon, with Sun journalist Alan Nixon going one further and suggesting the Owls are in the driving seat of negotiations to get a deal done.

The suggestion is, though, that Everton will ask for some sort of guarantee over playing time and that hasn’t always been Moore’s style in loan deals past. We’ll see how it plays out.

Where would he fit in?

This is the head-scratcher. Wednesday have a stable of quality forwards at League One level and while none of them have quite reached the half-way goal tallies they may have dreamed of back in August, Michael Smith has four in two and Josh Windass belted a hat-trick in their 5-0 rout of Cambridge last time out.

With the likes of Lee Gregory and Callum Paterson, plus Mallik Wilks and Alex Mighten, it’s a competitive environment in the Owls final third.

But Cannon is highly-rated at a club with a strong reputation for bringing through excellent talent. Could he be seen as a bonus x-factor addition?

What has Frank Lampard said?

The Everton boss has played his cards pretty close to his chest when it comes to Cannon’s immediate future.

During their mid-World Cup trip to Australia in November, the England legend intimated he had been impressed by what he had seen.

Lampard said: “He’s doing very well at the minute to a sort of throw himself self into the picture and the way he’s training with us and playing and scoring goals when he’s playing for the 21s.

“It’s good it’s really good to see the development of him. To step into the first and make an impact is as I say another level.

“At the minute he’s showing everything he can.”

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