A large number of Sheffield Wednesday supporters are clamouring for Jackson Irvine’s signing, amid talk of interest from Hillsborough in the former Hull City player.
The World Game has reported that a proposed move to Wednesday failed to ‘pan out’ for Irvine, whom Garry Monk has since admitted to having pursed, via Yorkshire Live, this morning.
This website has already outlined its belief the Australian would indeed be a good addition.
But to reiterate briefly: he is an experienced performer (at both Championship and international levels), who can operate in various roles (ranging from attacking midfield to central defence) and would help to restore some of the physical presence Wednesday are lacking in the absence of Massimo Luongo, Irvine’s Aussie teammate.
There is, however, one box which Irvine does not appear to tick and, as far as SWN is concerned, it should be enough to disregard any plan the Owls may have to offer a deal to the 27-year-old free agent.
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According to Yorkshire Live, the reason he is not already a Wednesday player is due to him being ‘reluctant to move because of club’s precarious league position’, with Monk’s team having been hit with a 12-point deduction ahead of the new campaign.
Nine other players had no such issue, however. And that attitude has been, arguably, the driving force behind the team’s solid start to the season, which has seen them cut the deficit by eight points in six games.
It is that very same us-against-the-world mentality which Monk, by his own admission, was striving to achieve and one to which Irvine is not compatible – assuming, of course, that the above report is accurate.
Irvine in action for Hull. (Photo by Mark Fletcher /MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Throw in the fact that Irvine last played a competitive game of football more than three months ago and is therefore unlikely to be match fit before Luongo is due to return at the start of next month, not to mention the wages that could be required to sign him (Hull Live has reported that he earned more than £10,000 a week at the KCOM Stadium), and he may – under closer inspection – be a player to avoid.
