Sheffield Wednesday haven’t made a notable player sale since Lucas Joao left for Reading ahead of the 2019/20 season.
Sheffield Wednesday cashed in on the well-liked striker for a reported fee of around £5million, making him the Owls’ second-most expensive player sale of all time.
In fact, he’s the most expensive player departure of this Century for Sheffield Wednesday and the most expensive of Dejphon Chansiri‘s reign.
Only Joao, Jack Hunt, and Stevie May have left Wednesday for more than £1million since Chansiri took control in January 2015.
It’s clearly an issue that has contributed to the current predicament that the Owls find themselves in, and the club will be kicking themselves over the situation regarding Di’Shon Bernard’s future at the club.
Di’Shon Bernard future at Sheffield Wednesday
Bernard, 23, is one of the many first-team players out of contract at Hillsborough this summer.
It follows his impressive maiden season with Sheffield Wednesday in which he’s played 32 times in the Championship, and now he’s wanted elsewhere.
Recent reports have revealed that Jamaican international Bernard has interest from the Championship and from abroad as he approaches the end of his Wednesday contract.
And for Wednesday, potentially losing a key player in Bernard is not only a blow for Danny Rohl, but for Chansiri too, as the club could well have made a serious amount of money if they had Bernard under contract for another year or so, and sold him on.
Sheffield Wednesday need to make sure of one thing
Club captain Barry Bannan and Rohl too both criticised the fact that Sheffield Wednesday have allowed so many players to be out of contract in the same summer.
Expect the club to want to avoid this going forward. And anyone that the Owls sign this summer, if possible to do so, they’ll surely put on longer-term contracts.
With Rohl at the helm and Sheffield Wednesday playing good football, it makes good footballers; like Bernard who now has interest, likely from higher up in the Championship.
Following his impressive form under Rohl, Bernard is now a top young player and Sheffield Wednesday could easily have sold him for a £1million this summer, if not more.
It’s up in the air whether or not he stays. But Wednesday desperately need to learn from this case study and make sure that, going forward, they have young players gaining value in the transfer market, whose eventual sales can help rebuild the club.
That said, it certainly looks like Chansiri is trying to make amends this summer with reported improvements to the club’s training ground and a new deal for Rohl in the making.
There’s areas for improvement, certainly, but Sheffield Wednesday are taking steps towards a brighter future, with Rohl leading the way.