Sheffield Wednesday get additional transfer help in former West Brom and Portsmouth man - big impact hoped for

The Owls have so far brought in Juan Delgado and Ashley Fletcher as well as making Reece James a permanent fixture after his successful loan spell with the club last year.

And it is hoped they will be able to continue to press on in the pursuit of a number of new players, with Owls boss Xisco confirming interest in Spanish full-back Pol Valentin.

In the wake of the departures of head of recruitment David Downes to Blackpool and Darren Moore, a re-energised recruitment push has been driven by Xisco and recruitment analyst Dean Hughes. Both players brought in this week have previously worked with the new Wednesday boss previously.

Now further help is on the way in the form of former West Brom technical director Luke Dowling, who helped oversee promotion to the Premier League at the Hawthorns in 2020.

Dowling also counts Watford, Blackburn Rovers, Portsmouth and Nottingham Forest among former employers and held a consultancy role at Leeds United.

The scale of Dowling’s role or involvement with Wednesday is as of yet unclear, though The Star understands it could well be he is brought in to assist with transfer matters on a short term basis initially.

Xisco told reporters: “I’m very happy with the president (Chairman Dejphon Chansiri) because he’s given me everything to try and improve the team. For me this is amazing.

“If we put together more people then maybe we can decipher more information about more players. But I’m also very happy with Dean (Hughes, recruitment analyst) because he’s working very well.

“But I think having three (people going at recruitment) is better than having just two, for example, so this is the idea. We are moving forward to try and find what we want. As I said in my first press conference the market is not easy. You have a lot of things and different situations.

“But I’m very happy with the club because they are giving me more support with Luke. I think everybody knows about Luke and his experience of the Championship. I think he’s a very good (addition) for us.”