Steve Bruce’s past comments on Barry Bannan are very interesting now

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Sheffield Wednesday new boss Steve Bruce was gutted that Aston Villa sold Barry Bannan.

New Sheffield Wednesday boss Steve Bruce is sure to be delighted to link up with Barry Bannan when he does take charge at Hillsborough now.

Bruce told the Sheffield Star when he was Aston Villa boss that he simply could not believe that his former club had let a player of Bannan’s quality go.

“How on earth we’ve let Barry Bannan leave this club on a free transfer tells you which way the club’s been over the last few years,” he said.

“That’s what we’re still trying to put right. Everywhere I look, we’ve let good players leave the club. Barry Bannan in particular, there’s another one down the road who has just won the Premier League (Marc Albrighton). All of that is the spiral of instability, if that’s the right word. We’ve got to amend all that and that takes time.”

Bruce has a chance to show Villa exactly what they are missing if he can get the best out of Bannan at Wednesday.

The central midfielder has been one of the Owls key players this season, and he is a stand out player at Championship level.

Bannan is likely to play a prominent role in Bruce’s Wednesday side, but the experienced boss does not take over until February.

Wednesday have been in much better form of late, picking up eight points from their last four games since Jos Luhukay’s departure.

And Bruce will be watching Bannan’s form closely in the coming weeks, as he gets a first hand look at the player he may now be grateful that Villa sold to Wednesday.