Tyreeq Bakinson: Why Sheffield Wednesday legend would sell midfielder to Owls months after triggering new deal

The young midfielder fell out of favour under the management of legendary former Wednesday captain Nigel Pearson last season and was shipped out on loan to Ipswich Town in January amid a flurry of strongly-worded interviews from the Robins boss about the youngster’s attitude.

The Ashton Gate club triggered a year’s contract extension on Bakinson’s deal just a months ago.

But the 58-year-old has since made clear the triggered deal was enacted so as to protect the value of their player rather than lose him for nothing this summer. Wednesday are said to be interested in bringing him to S6 on a permanent deal.

Bakinson was initially involved in the opening stages of City’s pre-season training programme but was not involved in their trip to Austria.

Asked on Bakinson when his loan switch to Ipswich was reported, Pearson said: “As far as I'm concerned, and I've said it before, if players don't want to be here they can go.

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“I'm not bothered. He's a player who unfortunately just wants to play on his own terms. It's not something I particularly want so he can go.

“I'm not wasting energy on negativity, I don't invest time on that, I'm not just saying it. If you ask people who work with me they'll say exactly the same thing, I don't waste energy on negativity, it drives me mad.

“If people aren't in the side, I want them to work hard to get there and I want people who are in the side to work hard to stay there. I don't want people that when the going gets tough, they want to go somewhere else, I'm not interested.

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“The fact that I am prepared to say, 'yeah, let the deal go ahead' because actually, people around the place who sap the energy out of other people is not as valuable as having people here who want to be playing.”

Bakinson impressed at Ipswich, who are believed to remain keen on the possibility of signing him, though Wednesday are said to be leading the race for his signature.