New Sheffield Wednesday owners are already mastering a game Dejphon Chansiri didn’t know how to play
Svante Ingelsson’s expected move to Stoke City will weaken Sheffield Wednesday ahead of next season. But his departure, at the same time, hints at signs of progress for the club.
Whisper it quietly, but Sheffield Wednesday are in the process of selling a player.
For just about any other club, it would not warrant a comment piece like this. However, Wednesday have very rarely sold players in the last few years, making this instance something worth talking about.
One of former owner Dejphon Chansiri’s biggest failings during his ten-and-a-half-year reign at Hillsborough was his refusal to sell players. He often allowed players, despite bids arriving from elsewhere, to run down their contracts and walk away for free.
It was an approach that nobody could make sense of. During the 2024/25 campaign, for example, Wednesday had the chance to sell Michael Smith to Wrexham. Red Dragons chiefs tried to thrash out terms with Chansiri to get a deal over the line, but the Thai businessman regularly moved the goalposts, making it impossible for Wrexham to extract the striker from Hillsborough.
Smith, in the end, terminated his Wednesday contract a few months later and walked away for nothing. That particular case study offers a prime example of why Chansiri failed so disastrously.
Under Arise Capital Partners, however, it looks as though Wednesday will have much more business acumen about themselves. Key hires off the pitch in recent weeks, putting the right people in the right places, suggests the Owls are definitely moving in the right direction.
More evidence to back up that suggestion arrived on Thursday, when it emerged that a deal has been agreed between Wednesday and Stoke City for the sale of Svante Ingelsson. It is understood the Swede will move to the bet365 Stadium in a deal that could be worth more than £1million.
Despite Ingelsson’s popularity and the energy and commitment he has brought to the table over the last two seasons, not least last term, moving him on in a deal that could bank Wednesday a seven-figure fee is a sensible and strategic move.
It is understood the midfielder, who was a pillar of consistency last term, running himself into the ground week-in, week-out, believes he deserves to remain in the Championship following the Owls’ recent relegation. Having attracted interest from a cluster of Championship clubs back in January and again in recent weeks, it is hard to disagree with him.
Ingelsson was out of contract at Hillsborough this summer, but Wednesday had the option to trigger an automatic one-year extension in his contract to protect his value. By triggering that clause, Wednesday have avoided the prospect of losing him for free.
The Owls wanted to tie Ingelsson down beyond the 12 months the clause covered and are understood to have made several attempts to keep him at Hillsborough ahead of the coming season. However, Wednesday accepted the Swede, who arrived in S6 two years ago, wanted to move back into the second tier, meaning it made sense for all parties to get a deal in place.
It is understood Wednesday will be allowed to put funds raised from player sales towards their squad rebuild this summer, meaning the money earned from Ingelsson’s anticipated departure will be beneficial.
Wednesday never perfected the art of player trading under Chansiri, regularly stockpiling players without selling any when the time was right. Exciting wingers Anthony Musaba and Djeidi Gassama were sold last summer, of course, but they only departed because the Thai was under increasing financial pressure, and they were sold for a fraction of their true market value.
As disappointing as it is to see Ineglsson, who scooped the Owls’ Player of the Season award last term, move on, Wednesday must be commended for agreeing to a sale at this stage of his S6 career. With a year remaining on his contract, it makes good business sense to cash-in on him at a juncture where his stock is reasonably high.
This is the sort of thinking Wednesday have lacked for far too long.