Sheffield Wednesday made four new signings in January, but missed out on the Aston Villa midfielder.
Ins: Callum McManaman, Morgan Fox, Sam Winnall, Jordan Rhodes.
Outs: Jake Kean, Sergiu Bus, Filipe Melo, Sean Clare, Lucas Joao, Modou Sougou, Claude Dielna.
Best arrival: Jordan Rhodes (Middlesbrough, loan with buying obligation)
Having been on and off again more times than Michael J Fox’s bathroom light switch, Rhodes’ transfer to Wednesday finally happened this winter – albeit not until 14 hours after the deadline passed, following Football League ratification. The former Middlesbrough striker’s 91 Championship goals since the start of 2012/13 are more than any other player has scored in that time, and service providing, he could be the difference for Carlos Carvalhal’s Owls – for whom no player has yet reached double figures this term – in the season’s final few months.
Carlos Carvalhal explains how Sheffield Wednesday could have been beaten to Jordan Rhodes signing
Best departure: Matt Penney (Bradford City, loan)
With Rhodes dominating the deadline day agenda, many will have missed Penney’s departure to Bradford City on loan. The Bantams are fighting for promotion from League One this season, which is an environment far more competitive than most young Owls have experienced in recent campaigns and perhaps tells us a lot about the left-back’s talent – underlining, too, the progress made at Middlewood Road of late. This move hopefully puts Penney on course for a first team challenge next season back in South Yorkshire.
For contrasting reasons, the departures of Sergiu Bus, Claude Dielna were also welcome.
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Where are they still short? Defence and midfield
Arguably the two areas most in need of strengthening at the start of pre-season. Though bodies have arrived in both departments (defence: Vincent Sasso; midfield: David Jones and Almen Abdi), their impact has been somewhat underwhelming.
Another club’s signing who would have been good: Conor Hourihane (Aston Villa)
Wednesday are said to have bid for the former Barnsley captain and playmaker, who could have filled the aforementioned midfield void – made worse by an injury to Kieran Lee – but signed for Villa instead. Hourihane has created more goals than any other Championship player this season and won the second-most tackles.
Overall rating: 8/10
Leaves them good enough to… finish in the top six. Though performances have not been quite as convincing as last season, results are marginally better than at the same stage a year ago. Crucially, though, Wednesday have already recorded three wins against the five teams above them, which is three more than the whole of last term and perhaps bodes well for the play-offs.
Will Sheffield Wednesday regret losing Hourihane to Aston Villa?
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