The Rotherham United manager, Paul Warne, has admitted that the player he would most like to sign from a South Yorkshire rival is currently at Sheffield Wednesday.
Warne joined his counterparts from Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United, Barnsley and Doncaster Rovers at Monday night’s Football Heaven special, which was broadcast live on BBC Radio Sheffield.
Asked to choose which of his local rivals’ stars he would want to bring to Rotherham, the 46-year-old said: “I’d have (Barry) Bannan, definitely.”
But when the question was put to the Sheffield Wednesday interim manager, Lee Bullen, the tables turned on Warne.
“I was going to say (the on-loan Sheffield United goalkeeper) Dean Henderson, because he’s the best player in the world, I believe,” said Bullen, referring to an earlier joke made by the Blades manager, Chris Wilder, about Henderson’s ego.
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“I’d take Richard Wood (Bullen’s former Owls teammate, who is now at Rotherham) – we need a centre-back – on a free.”
But Warne replied: “We don’t do frees.”
The Barnsley manager, Daniel Stendel, chose Doncaster’s John Marquis, while the Rovers boss, Darren Moore, said he would talk to Wilder about bringing Billy Sharp back to the Keepmoat Stadium from Sheffield United.
Wilder, though, took a different approach, saying he would like to reunite with Moore – his former teammate at Bradford City.