Sheffield Wednesday’s latest accounts show losses of more than £20 million.
Sheffield Wednesday’s latest accounts suggest a summer of cost-cutting lies ahead at Hillsborough.
Wednesday’s losses for the year ending May 2017 are up by more than £11 million on the previous 12 months, to £20.7 million – although these figures may be different to [and potentially not as bad as] the ones submitted confidentially to the EFL, while only money spent on the team counts towards Financial Fair Play anyway. Either way, their transfer expenditure will almost certainly have to be reined in to avoid future sanctions.
However, the Owls would not be the first Championship side to find themselves suffocated by FFP rules, and Derby County are a prime example of how one can still deliver fresh air to the lungs – having sold Will Hughes and Thomas Ince for a combined fee of around £20 million last summer.
This allowed the Rams, who like Wednesday had endured a difficult season after losing out in the play-offs the previous campaign, to fund the arrivals of Curtis Davies, Tom Huddlestone and Tom Lawrence – which have fired them back into promotion contention – and balance out their losses from recent years.
If I was a betting man, I’d wager we could, for the first time since Dejphon Chansiri arrived as chairman three years ago, see key players depart Hillsborough in the coming transfer window.
It’s common knowledge that Wednesday’s squad is one heading in the wrong direction age-wise, but with only Daniel Pudil, Glenn Loovens and Ross Wallace over-30 and out-of-contract this summer, moving on the likes of David Jones, Almen Abdi and Steven Fletcher may be easier said than done.
So who is saleable? Sam Winnall, Fernando Forestieri and Tom Lees have all attracted interest in the past, as have Gary Hooper, Barry Bannan and Keiren Westwood. However, recent injuries could act as a deterrent in each case, while the latter trio’s deals end in 2019 anyway.
Of those involved now, Lucas Joao is in the same boat, while young talents Sean Clare and George Hirst will leave for next to nothing [Wednesday are entitled to some compensation due to their age] if they fail to sign contracts this season. Joe Wildsmith may be an option, although he is still very raw, which only really leaves Adam Reach.
He’s the right age [25], in by far the most consistent run of form of any Owls player, while only Wildsmith [four more years] is on a longer contract [Reach’s runs until 2021 according to the Sheffield Star].
Jack Hunt recently argued – fairly, in my opinion – that Reach is worth between £10 million and £12 million, and if that sort of money is offered then Wednesday, surely, would struggle to turn it down.
And just as Reach may have rescued Sheffield Wednesday’s season, that would go some way towards saving their summer too.
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