Exclusive:Sheffield Wednesday edging in on signing of Motherwell's ex-England youth midfielder
Sheffield Wednesday’s busy start to the transfer window continues.
Sheffield Wednesday are edging in on the free transfer signing of a former England youth international as their transfer window flurry continues apace, The Star understands.
The Owls are making progress in rebuilding a squad decimated in recent windows and with the early stages of pre-season now underway, those efforts are being accelerated on a number of fronts with anywhere up to 20 players sought to take them into an important restart campaign back in League One.
Ricardo Santos and Liam Cooper have been added to the contracted squad and further links are emerging, with former loanee Tayo Adaramola known to be a target and Aston Villa Sil Swinkels also fancied - though competition is understood to be there from a number of clubs. A wide range of other targets are being worked on, with Barry Bannan expected to re-sign to the club after a short stint at Millwall.
Now, The Star can reveal that there is some level of growing confidence that a deal to sign outgoing Motherwell midfielder Callum Slattery can be sealed as the Owls move closer to another addition. Slattery started out his youth career with Chelsea and spent formative years at Southampton before loan stints with Dutch side De Graafschap and Gillingham.
The 27-year-old found a home at Fir Park after his signing there in 2021, playing 148 times for the Steelmen across five campaigns, scoring 19 times from midfield and contributing 14 assists. Returning from a knee injury, Slattery was a key man and made 38 appearances last season, scoring three times and claiming eight assists as Motherwell finished fourth and secured European qualification.
A technical, box-to-box midfielder who can play from six to 10, he is known for his physical and technical approach to the game and alongside his ability to win a pass is adept of winning fouls and getting his sides up the pitch, regularly topping ‘fouls won’ statistics in the Scottish Premiership. Slattery also offers set piece ability.
Santos’ signing signalled the start of Wednesday’s transfer activity with a great deal of work to be done.
Speaking to BBC Sheffield last week, Owls chairman David Storch said: “We’re signing players pretty much every day now. This is important, the other day when we were taking a look at the squad and its composition, we were meeting with Henrik and we were talking about the first day of training being June 29. That’s only 10 days away and at the moment we’ve only got six players under contract.
“I think they might need more than a three versus three scrimmage. So obviously we need some more players and we need them fairly quickly, but we’re not going to rush. Everything I’ve done has been done over time. We’re trying to build greatness over time, we’re trying to instil excellence right from the start.
“But there’s a road in front of us and we’re travelling that road today. Yes, we need to fill out the squad and Simon, under David’s (Bruce, CEO) leadership is doing a really great job.”