‘Technicality’ still holding up Sheffield Wednesday Mark McGuinness saga as Cardiff City clarify situation

The 22-year-old, who has been a star performer on loan at Sheffield Wednesday this season before a complicated recall saga saw him train at Middlewood Road this week before reporting for duty at his parent club on Thursday, will rejoin the Bluebirds’ Championship relegation fight once permission is granted.

Cardiff paid-off an instalment on the tragic deal that would have brought the late Emiliano Sala to the club back in 2019 – a £7m transaction that in theory would remove their EFL and FIFA transfer embargoes and ratify the McGuinness recall.

The EFL embargo has been lifted as per their website and the FIFA embargo is lifted in principle, it is understood.

Speaking on Friday morning, Cardiff manager Mark Hudson made clear he expected a line to be drawn under the confusion and confirmation sorted once a ‘technicality’ was ironed out.

“We're just waiting on a technicality with FIFA for the moment, so that hasn't come through yet as of yet,” Hudson said. “We're still waiting on an update but he is back with us, training.

“The club have worked extremely hard to pay the instalment and I think there's a period of time where then FIFA will lift theirs and obviously then, that would go hand in hand with Macca's (McGuinness) situation.

MORE: Sheffield Wednesday could make u-turn on January defender decision and save a headache

“We worked really hard behind the scenes to get that lifted. And we'll we'll know more today, I would think.”

The search for a potential replacement for McGuinness is on at S6. At the Cardiff end, Hudson said he had been delighted with how the loan had gone in South Yorkshire.

“I spoke to Macca regularly, even when he was in Sheffield, I used to do his reviews and go through it with him,” he said.

“He came in yesterday. So we had good conversations about the time he's had and what was required from him up there, the three main things he was working on and how he was playing within that team.

MORE: Nottingham Forest boss shows Sheffield Wednesday frustrations after surprise loan decision

“The run that they've been on goes hand in hand, really. So he has been brilliant and done really well up there. He is a top kid and a great character. He's raring to go.”