What has been a back week for Sheffield Wednesday has come to an end with the news that goalkeeper Lee Grant look certain to be on his way out of the club in the near future.
In the past 9 days Wednesday have lost a pre-season game at Grimsby that was marred by skirmishes between rival fans, drawn a dour encounter at non-league Darlington, been served with a wind up notice by HMRC for unpaid bills and lost at Scunthorpe with another lacklustre display.
Throughout this time they have also been said to have repelled three bids by Burnley for their custodian but it has been confirmed that the Owls have accepted a new bid from the long-time suitors and Grant is set to hold talks with the Championship outfit in the days ahead.
Despite apparently entering into a new era of transparency with the fans recently the club’s official website, www.swfc.co.uk states that an undisclosed fee has been agreed between the two clubs.
The pre-season defeats may be of little importance in the grand scheme of things but the issues with HMRC raise further questions about the state of the clubs finances despite their attempts to make light of the issue and the proposed sale of the highly rated goalkeeper so close to the start of the season is a disappointment.
Grant was one of the few Owls player to come out of the debacle that was last season with any credit and has been voted Wednesday’ players’ player of the year for three seasons in a row.
With manager Alan Irvine stating in the past that he had no intention of selling any of the current squad as things stands it appears as though the sale is a necessity in terms of balancing the books.
The Owls will be left with two young goalkeepers in Richard O’Donnell and Arron Jameson should Grant move on. Neither has played in a competitive game for the club with O’Donnell having slightly more experience having played 4 times on loan at Oldham in the 2007/08 season.