Sheffield Wednesday contracts state of play as Owls gear up for major summer rebuild

In his latest address to Sheffield Wednesday’s supporters via his X page on Sunday, chairman David Storch confirmed he had been spending time assessing the squad alongside members of the club’s leadership team.

Following the conclusion of the 2025/26 campaign a little over a week ago, Wednesdayites are waiting to discover the club’s end-of-season retained list, confirming who is staying and who is going ahead of the club embarking on a new chapter in League One next season.

This campaign, of course, has been a nightmare for a myriad of reasons, and nobody associated with Wednesday will look back on it with an ounce of fondness. However, following the completion of the takeover a little over a week ago, everyone is now looking forward to a brighter future.

There is no escaping just how big the challenge is for Storch and his Arise Capital Partners colleagues. They have walked into a football club that has hit rock-bottom and is in need of desperate investment both on and off the pitch.

Storch has already detailed some plans to make improvements to Hillsborough this summer, and further infrastructural improvements are expected across the board. Wednesday’s infrastructure has needed money pouring into it for a very, very long time, meaning supporters are understandably excited and intrigued to see what changes and improvements are made.

At the same time, though, Arise have got to rebuild a squad that needs plenty of fresh blood. Storch, during his maiden speech as Wednesday owner earlier this month, vowed to “put a competitive team on the pitch” next season.

With just over a month to go until the summer transfer window officially opens, Wednesday’s squad, certainly in terms of senior players, has a very thin look to it. Just nine senior players are understood to be under contract for next season, highlighting the scale of the rebuild required.

Those understood to be under contract beyond the end of June are Pierce Charles, Yan Valery, Sean Fusire, Di’Shon Bernard, Gabriel Otegbayo, Olaf Kobacki, Charlie McNeill, Jamal Lowe and Iké Ugbo.

Wednesday have an option to extend the contracts of captain Liam Palmer and midfielder Svante Ingelsson, and those clauses are expected to be triggered.

Dominic Iorfa, Liam Cooper, Max Lowe, Nathaniel Chalobah, who revealed last week he will be moving on, Marvelous Nakamba and Zain Silcott-Duberry are out-of-contract at the end of next month.

Cooper has expressed interest in staying at Hillsborough while Lowe, who was excellent after returning from a long-term injury towards the end of the campaign, is receptive to the idea of sticking around despite mounting interest from elsewhere.

Silcott-Duberry joined Wednesday on a short-term deal in February and failed to earn a single minute of first-team football while Nakamba, recruited on a deal until the end of the season after leaving Luton Town, made just five appearances, earning one start, before the end of the campaign.

Alongside Palmer and Ingelsson, Wednesday are also understood to hold options on the contracts of Ernie Weaver, Jarvis Thornton and George Brown to extend their deals. The youngsters each showed flashes of their potential at various stages this season, but Weaver and Brown missed huge chunks of the campaign due to injury issues. It is felt they could play important roles in the squad next term.

Wednesday, under the previous regime, did not disclose contract lengths and they were kept as a closely-guarded secret. Almost every other club discloses the length of the contract when either signing a player or tying an existing squad member down to a new deal.

The Owls ended the campaign with five loanees in their squad after bringing in Murphy Cooper, Jaden Heskey, Tayo Adaramola, Joel Ndala and Jerry Yates during the winter window. It remains to be seen if any of them will return to Hillsborough this summer.

Their exits, coupled with the prospect of players leaving upon the expiry of their contracts next month, means Wednesday, as things stand, only have nine first-team players contracted for next season.

Players under contract for next season:

• Pierce Charles
• Sean Fusire
• Yan Valery
• Gabriel Otegbayo
• Di’Shon Bernard
• Olaf Kobacki
• Charlie McNeill
• Jamal Lowe
• Iké Ugbo

Players out-of-contract this summer:

• Liam Palmer*
• Dominic Iorfa
• Liam Cooper
• Ernie Weaver*
• Max Lowe
• Marvelous Nakamba
• Jarvis Thornton*
• Nathaniel Chalobah
• Svante Ingelsson*
• Zain Silctott-Duberry
• George Brown*

*Denotes Wednesday have the option to trigger an extension.