Sheffeld Wednesday should compete with Ipswich for Curtis Tilt, could make up for Venancio loss

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Sheffield Wednesday missed out on signing Frederico Venancio.

Sheffield Wednesday missed out on signing their reported top defensive target Frederico Venancio as the player opted to stay in Portugal by joining Vitoria Guimaraes for an undisclosed fee, the Sheffield Star report.

Missing out on the player who impressed during a loan spell at Hillsborough last term is a big blow for the Owls, yet they could make up for it by pipping Ipswich Town to the signing of Blackpool defender Curtis Tilt.

According to a report in the Mirror (live transfer thread, July 8^th at 13:54), the Tractor Boys have tabled a £550,000 bid for the centre-back while Queens Park Rangers and Reading are also said to be keen.

Wednesday must make signing a new centre-back their top priority this summer, having opted against retaining Glenn Loovens at the end of his contract and missing out on Venancio.

It leaves the Yorkshire club extremely light on defenders, especially as manager Jos Luhukay has shown a preference to playing with three centre-backs in a wingback system rather than two central defenders.

With Financial Fair Play seemingly restricting the Owls’ ability to spend big money this summer, the club must look at signing cheap but effective players and Blackpool’s Tilt certainly falls into that category.

The pacey 26-year-old is a late developer who spent much of his early career outside the Football League before joining Blackpool from Wrexham last summer, going on to become arguably the club’s best player.

Tilt featured 42 times for the League One club and his impressive performances saw him pick up three different Player of the Year awards while attracting interest from the Championship.

Ipswich boss Paul Hurst is said to have wanted to sign him while in charge of Shrewsbury Town, but after missing out on him then he is now adamant about signing him at Portman Road.

Wednesday could offer the player a better shot at promotion having narrowly missed out in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns, while his relatively low price is ideal for a club looking at keeping spending to a minimum.