Sheffield Wednesday have already outlined why Wes Burns is on their radar amid transfer interest
Sheffield Wednesday are understood to be interested in the prospect of signing soon-to-be free agent Wes Burns.
After Ricardo Santos became their first signing of the summer last week, Sheffield Wednesday are now hungry for more new arrivals.
As revealed by The Star on Sunday, the club is making progress with its efforts to re-sign former captain Barry Bannan from Millwall, and there is a chance a deal could be finalised this week. The Scot is understood to be keen to return to Hillsborough after his ten-and-a-half year spell with the club came to an end in January.
Owls boss Henrik Pedersen is desperate to bring in new bodies as quickly as possible ahead of pre-season training properly getting off the ground next Monday. The players are expected to return to the club’s Middlewood Road training base on Wednesday for three days of fitness and conditioning testing.
In addition to being interested in signing Bannan, the Owls are also exploring various other avenues. One of the names on their list of targets, The Star understands, is experienced winger Wes Burns.
The 31-year-old is out-of-contract at Ipswich Town at the end of this month and his future at Portman Road remains unclear amid the Tractor Boys’ recent return to the Premier League. It is understood that Wednesday face competition from clubs in the Championship and the MLS for Burns’ signature.
The winger, who joined Ipswich from Fleetwood Town five years ago, is a vastly experienced League One operator, making 264 career appearances in the division. He has also been promoted from England’s third tier on a couple of occasions.
Wednesday, under Arise Capital Partners, are already showing signs of having plans in place that cover both the short-term and the long-term. Former owner Dejphon Chansiri was frequently criticised for a lack of long-term planning.
Under the Thai, Wednesday often signed players with either very little or no re-sale value at all, meaning they failed to trade players in the way almost every club has to in order to survive in what is now a cut-throat business.
Pedersen has addressed the importance of developing young players, promoting them to the first team and hopefully selling them on for a profit, highlighting the need for Wednesday to adapt to the modern era.
Therefore, Wednesday’s decisions to sign Santos, 31, express a hunger to re-sign Bannan, 36, and join the list of suitors for Burns does raise some understandable questions. However, as sporting director Simon Wilson, who officially joined the Owls last week, recently highlighted, Wednesday must assemble a squad with a sense of balance, meaning not every signing this summer is going to be, for example, between the ages of 21 and 24.
“I believe in balance, and I think we will be building a squad that is balanced in terms of young, exciting players coming from our academy, but maybe from outside as well that will come in here, be exciting and go on a journey with the club over a number of years,” Wilson told Wednesday’s YouTube channel.
“We also need players that are at the other end of their career, who know what it is all about to play at Sheffield Wednesday and understand what it means to the supporters. We need those guardians that can be senior players.
“Whichever league that we’re in, we’re going to need eight to ten players that are top in that league, that are ready to go and keep the level really high and help us challenge at the top end of every division that we play in.”
Having won three promotions with Ipswich, Burns knows exactly what it takes to compete at the top end of any table, meaning he suits the criteria Wednesday are looking for this summer. After recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury last December, an injury which sidelined him for almost a year, he contributed to Ipswich’s immediate return to the Premier League last term.
He scored two goals to help the Tractor Boys beat Coventry City 2-0 away from home last December, before scoring in April’s 2-2 draw against Southampton at St Mary’s.
With a snaking queue of suitors in pursuit of his signature, there are no cast-iron guarantees he will end up at Hillsborough this summer. However, Wednesday’s interest in a player of his profile ought not to come as that great a shock.