Sheffield Wednesday were forced to wait until the final day of the transfer window to sign Rhodes, a target for Aston Villa earlier in the month, from Middlesbrough.
Sheffield Wednesday had just one chance to sign Jordan Rhodes and took it, Carlos Carvalhal admitted at a press conference broadcast via the club’s Facebook account on Thursday.
The Owls waited until the final day of the January window to bid for the Middlesbrough striker, who has moved to Hillsborough on an initial half-season loan deal, which becomes a permanent transfer from July.
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According to Carvalhal, such an agreement was the only way to get Rhodes on board, given the Football League’s financial fair play restrictions, with the money – reported in some places to be £10 million – coming out of next season’s budget instead.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal
And the Portuguese added that, had a rival club met Middlesbrough’s demands earlier in the month, Rhodes would not be at Wednesday today.
“This is a player that all the teams want,” Carvalhal said of the Scotland international, who has scored 91 goals in 189 games at Championship level.
“But I talk with the chairman in the beginning of the month and we knew that (for) this kind of player we have just one chance.
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“If someone wants to buy him in the beginning of the month, and put the money, we don’t have any chance – he’s gone. If we have a chance to sign a player like Jordy, it must be in the last minute.
“So it was fantastic business on the part of our chairman (Dejphon Chansiri), because he achieve the player in the last minute with fantastic conditions – and the numbers are not the numbers that we saw in the press, absolutely sure!
“He is a very clever businessman and I must give him congratulations.”
Middlesbrough’s Jordan Rhodes celebrates
Wednesday’s Championship rivals Aston Villa had been keen on a deal for Rhodes, however, Villa boss Steve Bruce later admitted his side had pulled out of the running after refusing to meet Boro’s asking price.
The Villans later signed Brentford striker Scott Hogan for a reported fee of around £9 million, however.
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