The honest talk that led to Will Vaulks' Sheffield Wednesday exit - and a private message of thanks
Will Vaulks’ summer exit from Sheffield Wednesday came as a surprise to some supporters when it became clear he’d be joining Oxford United.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Röhl has spoken about the departure of reigning player of the year Will Vaulks after the midfielder made the decision to move to Championship colleagues Oxford United. The Wales international had his switch to the U’s confirmed late last month despite Wednesday having included him in a list of players they had offered fresh terms to as per their retained list for the 2024 summer.
The Star reported that Vaulks had penned a three-year deal at the Kassam Stadium, who are newcomers to the second tier after promotion from League One via the play-offs in May. Stellar performances towards the back end of a fightback season saw the 30-year-old voted player of the year by Wednesday supporters - though it wasn’t enough to see his Owls career continue as Röhl continues his re-sculpting of the squad at S6 ahead of the new season.
The German coach spoke glowingly on Vaulks’ contribution to their historic survival effort last time out and described the conversations he says led to him leaving the club. He made clear there was no ill-feeling between the pair - and smiled when looking ahead to the prospect of coming up against the battling midfielder.
“I wrote Will a personal message and said a big, big thankyou,” Röhl said. “I think he improved a lot in the last weeks and months. He was helpful. I have never seen a player with no contract into the summer have so much energy until the end. This was great to see from him.
“But then we spoke honestly and he decided to move to Oxford. This is normal in football. We will see him soon when we play against each other. We will have a battle, Will will be on fire, we will be on fire, both parts will show how strong we are. This is football, we move on. What is important is that we can look each other in the eyes, we are honest and this is what I try to give my players, honest feedback on where they are.”
In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Sheffield shortly after his Owls departure, Vaulks spoke about the encouraging structures in place at Oxford and how his new club ‘made him feel wanted’ heading into the new campaign.
“I’ll miss it,” he said. “We loved it there. Look, it’s public (knowledge) that I wanted to stay at the club if things were right. But things weren’t right for whatever reason. We loved it as a family, we were settled here... I’ll move on with my head held high that I tried everything for the football club and maybe it just wasn’t there from the other side. That’s football for you.”