West Brom gifted golden opportunity to land former top transfer target as Sheffield Wednesday crisis unfolds
West Bromwich Albion could take advantage of the chaotic ongoing situation at Championship rivals Sheffield Wednesday by signing one of their players.
As first revealed by our sister publication, the Sheffield Star, earlier this week, several Wednesday players have either already handed in their notices or are planning to after two successive months without payment. FIFA regulations stipulate that footballers paid late twice in a row can give notice to rip up their contracts.
Given Wednesday are currently under a transfer embargo and a three-window fee restriction due to defaulted payments, any departures – especially of players with high value – would come as a significant blow. Any hopes of a resolution have been scuppered by a recent updated report from The Telegraph, too, which suggests half a dozen players have already requested contract terminations.
Birmingham World exclusively revealed last summer that Albion had held talks over signing Windass, who himself recently confirmed he was indeed close to making the move to The Hawthorns before he signed a Wednesday contract extension instead. Now, a year on, Windass could finally seal his Baggies transfer.
Although no talks have been held at this stage, Albion could return for Windass as new head coach Ryan Mason seeks to make improvements to his squad. Predominantly an attacking midfielder but also capable of playing out wide or as a shadow striker, Windass scored 13 goals and provided five assists in 44 Championship appearances last season.
Those are far from rookie numbers put up by Windass, who enjoyed his most productive season since 2017/18, when he scored 12 and assisted eight in 30 Scottish Premiership games for Rangers. If the 31-year-old could carry on his momentum from last campaign, he could add goals and creativity to a West Brom side that was often starved of excitement during the second half of 2024/25.
Windass a low-risk signing
If Windass gets his wish and sees his Wednesday contract terminated, then he will be available on a free transfer. Plenty of clubs are bound to be sniffing around – potentially including Albion’s local rivals Birmingham City – but West Brom would have the advantage of having held historic talks with the player.
There would be hardly any risk involved in signing Windass as he wouldn’t warrant a transfer fee. The likely high wages may prove to be a little more hazardous but Albion at least wouldn’t have to fork out several million to lure Windass away from Hillsborough.
Would you like to see Windass make the move to The Hawthorns? Let us know in the comments section below.
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