Sheffield Wednesday’s retained list came on Friday afternoon, and three names in particular stuck out in terms of exits…George Byers, Lee Gregory and Reece James all played a huge part in the Owls’ promotion out of League One last season, putting in massive performance and scoring vital goals along the way – they were also incredibly well-liked.
Their respective departures leave gaps that need to be filled over the summer by Danny Röhl, and the German will be desperate to find upgrades on all three of them as he builds a team for the 2024/25 campaign. In many ways, he’ll need players that have similar characteristics.
In Byers the Owls had a player who threw himself into Sheffield Wednesday Football Club entirely. You just had to hear the way that he spoke about the club, the fanbase, the city. He just got it, and was loved for it. You could see it on the pitch when he played, and his ability to work the space between the boxes was a massive driving factor in Wednesday’s promotion, he was drastically missed when he got injured.
