Sheffield Wednesday have endured an increasingly disappointing January transfer window.
Danny Rohl has managed to sign James Beadle and Ike Ugbo on loan, but the Owls manager may have hoped for a couple more by now.
And we’ve seen a few players linked with Wednesday, some more closely than others, but ultimately sign elsewhere.
Conor Coventry and Darko Gyabi were coveted by Sheffield Wednesday, but they chose to join Charlton Athletic and Plymouth Argyle, respectively.
Isaac Hayden is another target, but he has recently been rumored to be in negotiations with Preston North End.
And now it appears that Arsenal’s teenage attacker Mika Biereth could join the list of Wednesday transfer targets who have fallen through the cracks this month.
Biereth, 20, started the season on loan with Motherwell. He scored six goals and assisted five more in 14 league appearances for the club before being recalled yesterday, with reports linking him with Sheffield Wednesday, among others.
According to The Star, while a move for Biereth is not fully ‘dead in the water’, the Owls are not currently ‘leading the race to take Biereth on’.
According to the same article, Austrian squad Sturm Graz is ‘among the sides regarded to be in a stronger position’.
Sheffield Wednesday have been snubbed on more than one occasion this month, and it appears that they will miss out on a few more January transfer targets.
Despite the improvement in form under Rohl and the positive playing style now in place at the club, there are still better options for players like Coventry and Gyabi; Coventry clearly wanted game time security, whereas Leeds United may have seen Plymouth Argyle as a safer environment for Gyabi.
And now that we know Wednesday isn’t winning the race for Biereth, his initial linkages appear a little aggressive.
He was flourishing in the Scottish top flight, and while the Championship may be of same, if not better quality, Biereth’s drop to 22nd place Sheffield Wednesday does not appear to be a significant step forward for him.
But joining Austria’s second-place team does, and that transfer appears far more feasible as things stand; Graz is also in the Europa Conference League play-offs next month.
There is yet hope where Biereth is concerned. Wednesday, on the other hand, may have to temper their expectations this month, or wait until later in the transfer window, when players are fleeing for moves and such.
Sheffield Wednesday host Coventry City at Hillsborough tomorrow.
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