Sheffield Wednesday coach admits he’s watched reported transfer target Bongani Zungu on video

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Zungu has been strongly linked with a move to Sheffield Wednesday over the past seven days.

Sheffield Wednesday first team coach Lee Bullen

Lee Bullen has admitted to watching video clips of reported Sheffield Wednesday target Bongani Zungu.

Zungu was linked with a move to Hillsborough in the Portuguese press last week, with reports in his native South Africa suggesting a bid of £5.3 million has since been made by an unnamed English club.

The player fuelled the speculation further by liking several tweets from Wednesday supporters who had enquired about possible move to Carlos Carvalhal’s side.

And in an interview with BBC Radio Sheffield on Thursday, Bullen, the Owls’ first team coach, confessed he’s aware of Zungu, but stressed he knows “very little” about Wednesday’s recruitment process.

“Yeah I’ve seen that one come out,” he said. “I think [it’s an] automatic link, with the lad playing in Portugal and doing really well over there and obviously Carlos being a Portuguese coach. I think these type of things we’re going to go through.

“I’m like anybody, as soon as names get mentioned that I haven’t heard of we’re lucky enough to have a computer application called Wyscout that we can go on and look at all these clips and various bits and pieces that he does, and video analysis and things like that, and have a look at the lad.

South Africa midfielder Bonagni Zungu [right]

“Whether or not he’s coming I don’t know. He looks a decent player on the video clips that I’ve seen but hey, I genuinely – and I hope people trust me on this – I genuinely don’t know whether that’s right or wrong at the moment.

It is thought that Carvalhal is keen to strengthen in Zungu’s position ahead of another assault on promotion to the Premier League.

However, as previously reported by Soccer Laduma, the UK’s strict work permit requirements would make it difficult for the 24-year-old to sign for an English club at Vitoria’s initially reported asking price of €3.5 million [£3.1 million].

Nevertheless, it is possible that a higher offer could help to circumvent those rules, with Ramadan Sobhi’s 2016 transfer to Stoke City cited as an example.

Meanwhile, Wednesday trio Fernando Forestieri, Keiren Westwood and Barry Bannan have, either officially or unofficially, been linked with moves out of Hillsborough this summer.

Sheffield Wednesday pair Barry Bannan [left] and Fernando Forestieri [centre]

But the Scot replied when asked about their futures: “That’s obviously not for me [to answer] but I’m very confident that all the lads… I notice Forestieri’s been mentioned, I know Westwood’s been mentioned, I see Bannan’s been linked – I’m very, very confident that these lads will still be with us come the end of the transfer window.”