Owls sell attacking threat

Last updated : 06 August 2014 By C. Morris

Sheffield Wednesday's preparations for the start of the 2014/15 Championship season have been dealt a blow with the news that winger Michail Antonio has been sold to Nottingham Forest.

Antonio joins Stuart Pearce's side on a three-year deal having spent the last 2 seasons at Hillsborough on the back of an initial successful loan spell.

The 24-year olds loan spell from Reading during the second half of the 2011/12 season helped the Owls to promotion from League One and Wednesday then paid somewhere in the region of £750,000 to Reading to secure his services.

Antonio hit the ground running in the Championship in 2012/13 but injuries meant that last season his form was somewhat inconsistent. He scored a total of 18 goals in 83 appearances for Wednesday but on top of that his assists and his pace and power ensured he was often a very useful outlet.

The fee that Forest have paid to the Owls is undisclosed but rumour has it that it is believed to be around £1.5-£2M. While this represents a decent return on what the club paid for the winger 2 years ago many fans will be disappointed considering the fact that on the same day Forest are believed to have paid in excess of £5M for a League One striker who has yet to prove himself at Championship level.

Time will tell as to whether Stuart Gray will have the funds from the transfer made available to strengthen his squad and whether he will be able to do this quickly will the start of the new season just a few days away.