Sheffield Wednesday have revealed that former Captain Richard Wood has been placed on the transfer list after turning down what the Owls believe to be an excellent offer of a new contract.
Wood, who is the longest serving player currently on the books at Hillsborough having made his debut in 2003, is said to have been holding out for a deal that would make him easily the clubs highest paid player but Wednesday feel that the player and his agents expectations are way above what is realistic and have withdrawn their offer.
Transfer speculation has surrounded the centre back for some time now and this news will not come as a great shock to the Wednesday faithful.
Wood hardly endeared himself to the supporters last season when shortly after being given the honour of the Owls captaincy he put in a transfer request amid rumours of interest from the likes of Birmingham City and most notably Coventry City.
Although nothing concrete transpired from these rumours at the time Wood’s head appeared to have been turned and his form during the 2008/09 season was patchy.
This summer he lost the captaincy to the more experienced Darren Purse, which must have come as a blow and rumours regarding his commitment bubbled under the surface as he stalled on a new contract at a time when many of his team mates were committing themselves to new deals at the club.
Despite these issues Wood appeared to have found a return to more consistent form with some steady performances though in all truth it hasn’t had to perform any miracles to stand out in the Owls struggling defence so far this season.
As an accomplished defender and long serving player it is understandable that Wood would want to be rewarded for this but for him to demand in excess of players with more top level experience, better levels of consistent performance and commitment in terms of not looking for a way out to teams of a similar standing to the Owls is unrealistic.
This does however create another problem for Brian Laws in terms of immediate team selection. He has stated that there is no point having a player who doesn’t want to be at the club which suggests that Wood is unlikely to feature for the first team, however the defence has been the major problem for the team so far this season and having less options available won’t help the situation. With this in mind Wednesday have made Wood available for loan with a view to a permanent exit when the transfer window reopens in January and that could pave the way to bring in a replacement.
Recent rumours have linked the defender to a move across the city to bitter rivals Sheffield United who themselves have issues regarding the future of key defender Matthew Kilgallon.
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