Safe to say, Barry Bannan has been Sheffield Wednesday’s star man in recent years, not only that but arguably could be considered League One’s star man in recent years too but with his contract up in the summer let’s take a look at five possible destinations for the midfielder.
Find me five Wednesday fans and you’ll most likely have five people who couldn’t think of much worse than Barry Bannan leaving the club with them on the cusp of a return to the Championship.
Top of the league, flying high with two games in hand and a nice little cushion on the teams below, life certainly won’t get much better for Wednesday fans at the moment but they could be at serious risk of losing last years League One player of the season. If he was to leave, here’s five clubs that I think Bannan would be the perfect signing for!
Wycombe Wanderers
If reports are to be believed Wycombe could be set to lose Lewis Wing, which will see the Chairboys in the market for a replacement. Although I do expect Bannan to follow Sheffield Wednesday into the Championship be it with them or with another club if Wycombe could pull this one off it would be an unbelievable coup for them!
They came within touching distance of the Championship last season falling at the final hurdle losing the play-off final 2-0 against Sunderland.
Thick into the play off race again this season, regardless of how their season is to end up, if they are looking for a statement this would certainly be a good one to make.
Queens Park Rangers
It’s definitely not been a season to write home about for QPR and at this point, it doesn’t look like it’s getting much better even after the appointment of Mr Rock & Roll Gareth Anisworth following the departure of Neil Critchley.
Thick in the relegation battle full focus will be on remaining in the Championship this season however, one eye will have to be on where and how to improve ahead of next season but they may have to face a harsh reality that they may be playing League One football next season.
Regardless of where they end up, if you’re starting a rebuild you can’t go far wrong signing League One’s stand out player of the last few years.
Blackpool
Another club deep in the relegation battle in the Championship this season and the table is pretty bleak reading for Blackpool fans at the moment. The club unfortunately look likely to be heading back to League One this season but the writing isn’t exactly on the wall they could yet save their season.
Regardless of if Blackpool stay up this season or not, they are going to need to recruit well in the summer as they will be keen to ensure they aren’t in a similar position next season, Bannan could be just the man to build a new look side around.
Being honest I could cut and paste the same thing for most Championship and League One clubs when it comes to signing a player like this but it isn’t often a player of this calibre could be up for grabs on a free.
Of course Bannan has already graced the turf at Bloomfield Road in a loan spell early on in his career could a return be on the cards?
Bolton Wanderers
A huge club, regardless of the league they are in. It wasn’t that long ago Bolton were playing in the Premier League or am I really getting that old? Jokes aside Bolton still have that attraction for me who wouldn’t want to be apart of the side that revived the club?
Bolton thick in the play off race this season and already have a trip to Wembley to look forward to. I don’t think many would disagree when I say a club of this size doesn’t belong in League One.
Regardless of how the season ends for them, this is a club I fully expect to be enquiring into attaining Bannan’s services for next season be it in the Championship or League One.
Derby County
It’s probably best not to talk about the last couple of years for Derby, let’s be honest it’s probably been one of the worst periods in the club’s history.
Slowly, the club seem to be finding their feet again pushing for the play-offs this season in League One, there is every chance they could regain their Championship status they are longing for.
Again for me clubs like this that find themselves down in League One need to make statements and as I say you don’t get much more of a statement signing for this league than Barry Bannan.
Genuinely speaking, if Derby were to go for this and pull it off I think it could be the difference between a title push or another season of fighting for play offs should they find themselves in League One yet again next season.
Writers View
I don’t see Bannan leaving Sheffield Wednesday he’s been with the club since 2015 and in my opinion has been their best player. It seems an odd decision from the club to let his contract run down this far leaving them at risk of losing such a vital player on the cusp of a return to the championship.
Consistently brilliant is how I would describe him during his time with Wednesday, he would walk into any League One side and most in the Championship I’d say getting him signed into a new contract is probably top of the priority list at Wednesday but it’s fun to speculate and think about where he could end up. The 33-year-old has aged like a fine wine so far. I have no reason to believe that won’t be the case for at least the next couple of seasons!
