5 players will leave Sheffield Wednesday in 2026 if nothing changes ft. Barry Bannan | OneFootball

Few clubs are more likely to look different by the end of this season than Sheffield Wednesday; they'll still have expiring contracts to deal with.

Sheffield Wednesday have five permanent players falling out of contract during 2026, and even though they're thinking in the short-term at the moment, this is something that their new owners will have to take on board.

As things stand at Hillsborough at the moment, Sheffield Wednesday are having to live very much in the present. The club remain in administration, and the next step for the club is getting a buyer decided and back on track.

The new year and the January transfer window are just around the corner, and one of the new owner's first jobs will be to get their first-team squad rebuilt. Wednesday may be well adrift at the foot of the Championship, but while there's a possibility of staying at that level, they need to grasp it.

One decision that the new owners will have to make is how much of a scorched earth policy they decide with regard to the club's current players. And one of the clear side effects of the club's plight throughout 2025 has been that a number of those current players are on pretty short contracts.

The reality of Sheffield Wednesday's position is that players will be falling out of contract during 2026, so here are the FIVE players that the Owls could lose next Summer.

Barry Bannan

With more than ten years at the club, Barry Bannan is Sheffield Wednesday personified.

He's been there more than a decade, and he's still going strong, and it's difficult to imagine him leaving the club - especially after he took a considerable wage cut this past summer to remain at Hillsborough, snubbing various Championship clubs in the process.

Bannan turns 36 at the start of December, but he's showing no signs of slowing down, and having recently told The Times that he thinks that he could continue to play for longer, one of the first things the club's new ownership may do is to hand him a new deal on the kind of weekly money that he deserves.

Max Lowe

There were rumours during the summer that Max Lowe was one of the senior Sheffield Wednesday players who'd given in his notice over the club's persistent late payment of wages, but to the surprise of many, he ended up staying.

A regular starter under Henrik Pedersen this season in the left-sided defender role in a back three, Lowe could've been a commodity for another Championship club, but he's stuck with the Owls in their time of desperation.

Under new ownership and heading in a new direction, it would be anticipated that Lowe would be offered a new contract when his current one expires next summer, but he could be ready for a new challenge.

Jamal Lowe

Wednesday's other Lowe is the highly-experienced forward Jamal, who signed from Bournemouth in 2024 on a free transfer.

Another ever-present this season, again the next decision that is made over him will likely come down to the direction that the club is taking under new ownership by the end of the season.

Lowe turns 32 next summer, so if he does get a contract extension it would likely only be for a further year, but he's not been the most prolific in his year-and-a-half in South Yorkshire so far, so his future is very much up for deliberation.

Liam Cooper

Liam Cooper has only just joined Sheffield Wednesday, having signed for the club as a free agent during the November international break following his departure from CSKA Sofia earlier in 2025, so it feels far too early to be talking about his future.

Cooper is 34 years old, and the contract that he's signed with the club is until the end of this season, so it may be that his time with the Owls is brief, though he's performing a crucial role by being at the club in the first place.

With plenty of Championship experience under his belt, Cooper provides a bit of depth and relief for Pedersen in a defensive unit that has been stretched to the bone - he could be a fantastic asset for the remainder of the campaign.

Dominic Iorfa

Dom Iorfa has been at Hillsborough since 2019 following his move from Wolves, and has run up just over 200 appearances for the club since then.

And even though he turned 30 years old last summer, it can reasonably expected that Iorfa will be offered a new contract to stay at Hillsborough beyond the end of this season, given the fact he too has been a regular in Pedersen's starting 11.

He may not want to play in League One, should Wednesday head there next season, but it would be a surprise if the new ownership do not seek to tie down his future even longer than next June.