Steve Bruce’s dodged Sheffield Wednesday transfer bullet - Dejphon Chansiri made same mistake before | OneFootball

The Owls were right to not take on Nick Powell in 2019

In 2019, Nick Powell was a solid Championship midfielder with an intriguing backstory.

A Manchester United signing who never quite fulfilled his early promise, Powell remained an attractive option when Wigan Athletic made him available in the summer of 2019.

Sheffield Wednesday were among those who came calling - but when the wage demands landed, the Owls quietly moved on, and it turned out to be a bullet well and truly dodged.

Dejphon Chansiri's reign at Hillsborough had already been characterised by a willingness to spend beyond the club's means in pursuit of Championship respectability.

Against that backdrop, walking away from a player of Powell's profile felt, at the time, like a minor frustration. With hindsight, however, it looks considerably wiser.

Why Sheffield Wednesday walked away from Nick Powell pursuit

Steve Bruce was preparing for his first full transfer window as Owls manager, with a clear need for midfield reinforcements after David Jones, Almen Abdi and George Boyd had all been allowed to leave without replacement.

Powell, freshly released by Wigan after reportedly turning down a contract worth in the region of £1 million a year at the DW Stadium, emerged as a genuine target. Wednesday made their inquiry.

But when Powell's wage demands were laid out, the club stepped back. The Star confirmed at the time that it was precisely those financial requirements that ended the pursuit.

Powell subsequently joined Championship rivals Stoke City, while Bruce moved on with characteristic pragmatism.

"We are not going to sign anyone for the sake of it," he said.

By the standards of Wednesday's transfer activity during that period, it was a rare and telling exercise in restraint.

Ending interest in Nick Powell was a rare sensible move from Dejphon Chansiri

On paper, Powell represented an appealing prospect. A graduate of Crewe Alexandra's well-regarded academy, he had been acquired by Manchester United as a teenager for a reported £6 million - pedigree that invariably commands a premium.

He had spent three productive years at Wigan, contributing eight goals as the Latics secured Championship survival in 2018/19, and he possessed the kind of natural ability that made scouts and supporters alike take notice.

Celtic and Rangers were among the clubs credited with admiring him - there was no shortage of interest.

Yet the fuller arc of his career offered legitimate reasons for hesitation. His years at Old Trafford, for all the early fanfare, had amounted to a series of loan moves and fleeting appearances.

His Leicester City spell had ended with the club terminating the loan arrangement early, reportedly citing concerns over his commitment to training.

Significant hamstring problems had already cost him substantial stretches of football. His talent was genuine, but any consistency was not.

At Stoke, Powell would eventually produce his finest sustained spell, top-scoring in the Championship with 12 goals in 2020-21 and claiming the club's Player of the Year award.

But injury continued to stalk him: a fibula problem in 2021, a quad issue in 2022, a gradual tapering of output that left him with just four goals in 26 appearances in his final campaign before being released.

A stint at Stockport County followed, ended by mutual consent, before he joined Bradford City in League One in August 2025.

For Wednesday, whose financial foundations were already being strained by Chansiri's tendency to sanction wages that outpaced the club's means, absorbing Powell's demands could have been genuinely damaging.

The Owls' owner had shown, time and again, a willingness to prioritise short-term ambition over long-term stability - a pattern with consequences that would cast a long shadow over the club.