Sheffield Wednesday transfer state of play as window edges final week

With 10 senior signings through the door, the addition of marquee signing Ike Ugbo complete for £2.5m on a four-year deal complete and a number of players having walked through the Hillsborough exit door, the work continues at Sheffield Wednesday.

Danny Röhl wants to make game-changing additions to his squad before the window is through. Here’s a run-through ‘state of play’ update on our understanding of where things are at.

What do Wednesday want to do?

There are a number of positions Wednesday are understood to be keen to strengthen by the time the window closes. Röhl has hinted publicly that midfield and up top are potential areas for attention and The Star is led to believe a left-footed centre-half has been high on the priority list at stages this summer. With the bulk of their work done and a core squad in place, it’s more about adding impact players and different options at this stage - one of the buzzwords of transfer chats with Röhl throughout the summer has been the need for different ‘profiles’ that will offer increased tactical flexibility.

A wide net of options have now been narrowed down, with Röhl speaking about adding ‘pieces to their house’. “Now it goes more and more specific,” he told The Star last week. “At the beginning we had a big net to bring a lot of players with certain qualities in, now it’s about the small pieces in different profiles, this is what we are looking for now. This is good because the big job has been done, now it is more about the small pieces that make the impact and give the squad different profiles.”

What are they likely to do?

Business is expected - that’s just about all we can say for now. Röhl told us over the weekend that there is a specific strategy in place that has served Wednesday well - and is one they’ll be sticking to as time winds down to the end of the window. It’s no secret that the Premier League loans market is one they’re looking to tap into and those deals routinely get done late as top tier sides shape their squad before shipping out.

It’s worth saying that the loaning of talented young Premier League players is not the simple transaction it once was. A couple of decades ago the focus of top tier sides was to lend players out for their development. With the dawn of financial rulings, they are now often seen as a potential claw-back of funds and with the improvement of academy systems and the track record of young players making an impact at Championship level, they don’t come cheap. Battles for available young starlets are competitive bunfights these days and they can be cancelled on the whim of the parent club.

Permanent deals are possible for the right player, it’s suggested, and as the window winds towards it closure there is work being done behind the scenes - on at least one target named publicly and also, it’s assumed, on players not yet named. It’s been indicated to The Star that there is one ESC slot left in the squad.

What’s the budget? How does it work?

Wednesday don’t necessarily operate to a budget in the way a management simulation computer game might suggest. Each deal is worked on on its merits, both incoming and outgoing, with Röhl working alongside head of recruitment Kevin Beadell and the club’s recruitment and analyst teams. As the man ‘signing the cheques’, chairman Dejphon Chansiri ultimately signs deals off and long-time Owls advisor Amadeu Paixao has been involved in the negotiation of a number of deals this summer. Other figures, including those close to Röhl, are also involved in some deals.

Röhl has spoken of his satisfaction with the set-up and business done throughout what has already been a busy summer and with only a few deals left to complete seems confident of getting more bodies through the door. The club are also working on deals to get existing players going the other way - though the club are not operating on the proviso that players must leave before they bring players in.

“If we get a great opportunity then I think we will go straight in, it doesn't matter if players leave or not,” the German boss told The Star last week. “The next two weeks might be a little bit different to the first weeks, I feel this a little bit more. We are step by step, seeing what happens and making the right decisions. The good thing is we have done well at the moment, we have had a good window and we have had good support from the chairman, he has been a big, big help to me in bringing players here.”

How about outgoings?

A number of Wednesday players are the subject of possible exits before the deadline. The Star revealed that Bailey Cadamarteri is the subject of widespread interest from the EFL and north of the border and is expected to leave to gain regular minutes. Pierce Charles could head out but only if a suitor club with the preferred style of play is found. A number of other youngsters could be let out for experience-gaining temporary stints, some of which could be left until after the window when the option of a loan to a non-league club remains.

In terms of The Star’s understanding of potential exits within the senior group, Michael Smith is understood to be of interest to League One clubs including Wrexham, though a deal is not thought to be especially close. Marvin Johnson is too of interest to clubs elsewhere, The Star reported interest from Oxford United but any chance of a deal there is at this stage looking increasingly unlikely. Callum Paterson is believed to be up for grabs alongside a handful of other fringe players. It was not beyond the realms of possibility that Charlie McNeill could be sent out on loan but it is now understood he will be staying put.

Röhl said: “We’ve come to a point where you’ll see in the coming weeks who is playing more, who is not playing, and who is not even in the squad - those decisions will come now. It’s a big decision for us as a club, and for the players. I understand them. But I’ve spoken with them in the last couple of days about this situation, and I saw on Wednesday (v Hull City) that the players have something in their mind when the referee whistled - it’s about football, and I think this is the key.”