Likely TRIPLE exit highlights transfer area Sheffield Wednesday must target this summer

The team that lines up for Sheffield Wednesday’s season opener in League One on August 7 will look a whole lot different to the one that finished up last season.
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The Owls will see 10 senior players pass through the exit door at the end of the month when their contracts come to an end.

And the exodus is unlikely to be limited to that raft of experienced professionals – among them Keiren Westwood, Adam Reach and Jordan Rhodes – as Darren Moore looks to set about a rebuild at the club he said was coming with or without relegation.

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There’s work to do until they get to that point of course. The club are in something of a financial malaise at current, though indications are that they are confident of arresting that in the weeks to come, and are working under the cloud of a transfer embargo.

Julian Borner is looking set to leave Sheffield Wednesday.Julian Borner is looking set to leave Sheffield Wednesday.
Julian Borner is looking set to leave Sheffield Wednesday.

As revealed by The Star, the transfer embargo will allow the club to sign players on free transfers or on non-fee loans, should they require to do so in order to make up a squad of 23 ‘established players’.

Beyond the exodus of 10, there look likely to be further departures in one of the most important areas of the pitch; central defence.

It became clear youngster Osaze Urhoghide is likely to leave the club once his contract comes to a close at the end of the month and The Star understands that reports in the German media surrounding a switch back to the 2.Bundesliga is on the cards for Julian Börner are true.

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Add that pairing to the Lees departure and three of last season’s defenders are out.

Wednesday, who were ridiculed for having seven senior centre-halves on the books in the early stages of last season, are now down to only Chey Dunkley, Dominic Iorfa – both recovering from an injury-torn 2020/21 season – and Sam Hutchinson, who has played the vast majority of his career in midfield.

Moore, who prefers his defenders to be able to play out from the back, will no doubt have already set about working closely with the Wednesday recruitment team in order to find replacements.

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