Strong Sheffield Wednesday claim issued on Barry Bannan - 'Dejphon Chansiri will be to blame' if he leaves | OneFootball

Losing their club captain would be a hammer blow to Sheffield Wednesday, but FLW's fan pundit believes that the veteran midfielder will stay.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

With the takeover of Sheffield Wednesday still uncompleted, the club's position remains precarious.

They've been in administration since the 24th October, and even though a preferred bidder was named for the club on Christmas Eve, no purchase has yet been approved and time is starting to run out before the end of the January transfer window.

Within this window, the biggest fear that Wednesday fans will have could be losing even more players to their rivals. Their squad was already down to its bare bones before their injury situation deteriorated to the points of being a crisis, and they can ill-afford to lose the players who've stuck with them throughout what has been a traumatic season so far, both on and off the pitch.

But the rumour mill has been turning nevertheless, and attention has turned to one of their biggest dread scenarios; the possibility of losing club captain Barry Bannan. Sky Sports' Keith Downie has reported that there is interest in signing the midfielder from Millwall, Stoke City and Preston North End, as well as two unnamed Scottish clubs - one now revealed to be Motherwell - before the end of the January transfer window.

Cautious optimism that Barry Bannan will stay at Hillsborough beyond the January transfer window

Football League World have spoken to our resident Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit Patrick McKenna about the possibility of Bannan leaving this month, and Patrick is optimistic that the player will stay.

"I don't think it will happen, personally," Patrick told FLW on Bannan potentially leaving the club.

"I've stated that previously, I think he will be with us until the end of his career, and he'll then pick up a coaching role with us. Of course, now is a good time for clubs to possibly come in for him on the cheap. I can understand that, and I can see where the rumours are coming from."

But Patrick understands what a huge blow the captain's departure from Hillsborough would be for Sheffield Wednesday, and he believes it will be down to Dejphon Chansiri's past actions should Bannan decide he wants to move elsewhere.

"If he wants to leave, yeah, it would be a massive, massive blow, with our unbelievably threadbare squad," McKenna added.

"To lose such a key player would be a disaster. He is still the absolute heartbeat of the team. He's still leading the way for us. To lose Bannan would be losing more than a player."

"If it happens, it would be down to the fact that he has given so much to the club throughout the ruins of the Chansiri era, and I would pin the blame on him leaving on the previous regime.

"I don't think it would be fair to link Bannan wanting to leave to the current takeover. I think those two processes are separate. We'll see what happens regarding Bannan, but I do think that he won't be going anywhere in January."

For Sheffield Wednesday, losing Barry Bannan would be more than losing a player

Among all the trauma that Sheffield Wednesday fans went through during the summer, as the wheels keeping the club on the rails started to work their way loose, one bright spot was being able to persuade club captain Barry Bannan to extend for another year.

At 36-years-old, Bannan is now coming towards the end of his playing years, but his ongoing presence at Hillsborough - he's fast approaching 500 appearances for the club - has been a stabilising and calming influence on a club that has been undergoing arguably the most difficult spell in their entire history.

The decision to sign that extension on significantly reduced terms hasn't been one that Wednesday have come to regret. His performances this season have been solid and consistent, while the value that his experience will have brought to a changing room that is packed with young players who've been playing as a result of the embargoes placed against them by the EFL cannot be overstated.

But the very leadership skills that he has demonstrated will make him a target for other clubs, so it's unsurprising to see Championship rivals being potentially interested in trying to take advantage of Wednesday's dismal league form - they only have one League win all season, and that came in September - to try and prise the player away from the club.

Sheffield Wednesday have the advantage of knowing that Bannan only has half a season left on his contract. It is always possible that a player could have his head turned, but this is a player who has shown enormous loyalty to the club over a lengthy period of time, and the interest of other clubs may land differently with a 36-year-old than it would with a younger player keen to advance their playing career.

With just six months to run on his contract, and considering the loyalty that Barry Bannan has shown towards Sheffield Wednesday in the past, it seems difficult to believe that the player would be tempted away from Hillsborough at this stage in his career with the club. But that won't stop rival clubs from trying to prise him away from them.