Exclusive: What Don Goodman has said on Sheffield Wednesday star leaving Hillsborough | OneFootball

A key decision looms for the Owls over one of their most valuable young players

For most clubs, the January transfer window is an exercise in fine-tuning. For Sheffield Wednesday, it has too often been about firefighting.

This winter, however, arrives with unfamiliar conditions at Hillsborough: a measure of financial stability despite administration, a break from existential crisis, and - cautiously - the possibility of football decisions being made for football reasons.

That fragile sense of reset frames the debate around Pierce Charles. At 20, the Northern Ireland international is arguably Wednesday’s most valuable asset in both sporting and economic terms.

His rise from academy graduate to first-choice goalkeeper over the past year has been rapid, accelerated by circumstance as much as by promise.

Eight appearances at the end of last season, two at the start of this, and a shoulder injury have limited the available evidence. But interest from Premier League clubs, Rangers and Strasbourg underlines how highly he is regarded across the market.

The Northern Ireland international made his competitive return against Blackburn Rovers at the weekend, before the Championship fixture was abandoned just after the hour mark due to heavy rain.

It was a brief but important reintroduction after his shoulder injury, coming days after he completed 90 minutes for a Wednesday XI in the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup.

Henrik Pedersen’s comments were telling: he spoke of Charles’ personality as much as his ability, positioning him as a foundational piece rather than a disposable asset. In a squad still bearing the imprint of enforced sales and short-term fixes, that framing is important.

Only months ago, this conversation would have been brutally simple. Under Dejphon Chansiri’s ownership, Wednesday lurched from embargo to arrears, from deduction to distress sale.

Djeidi Gassama, Anthony Musaba and Caelan-Kole Cadamarteri were all sold at prices that told their own story. Charles, paradoxically, was retained despite bids running into the millions, even as staff and players waited for wages.

Don Goodman weighs in on potential Pierce Charles transfer - it may be out of Sheffield Wednesday's control

The context for Charles’ potential sale is now materially different. Chansiri’s departure and a £1 million donation from an anonymous benefactor have stabilised the club’s immediate position. Wages have been brought under control. The threat of insolvency, for now, has receded.

New owners are expected to be in place early in January. Wednesday have not escaped their recent past, but they are no longer operating in permanent freefall.

Which makes the question of Charles’ future more complex, and more revealing.

Football League World spoke exclusively to Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman on the Owls’ chances of retaining Charles in January - and if a new ownership group should do whatever possible to keep the promising shot stopper.

“Pierce Charles, isn't he's not a goalkeeper that I've seen an awful lot of truth be told, but obviously he's very highly regarded within football circles,” Goodman told FLW.

“But he's only started 10 games, eight last season, and two this season in the Championship - so it's only a very small sample size on which to judge him.

“He's obviously been playing in a team that has been struggling, so clean sheets have been hard to come by and goals have been flying in.

“I guess it would be all about the level of the fee. It could be that somebody offers Sheffield Wednesday an amount of money that they simply can't refuse for a player that at this stage is purely potential.

“So there are factors at play. 
If Sheffield Wednesday rate him that highly and feel like they want to progress forward with him and build with him, then yes, they should keep him, but they may get an offer that they can't refuse.”

Sheffield Wednesday’s ownership reset changes the Pierce Charles transfer debate

The debate comes down to value and timing. Pierce Charles is still a goalkeeper of potential rather than proof. Ten Championship starts, most of them in a struggling side, offer only a small sample. The belief in his ceiling, however, is clear.

What has changed is Wednesday’s ability to choose. Under previous ownership, the club rarely sold at all - often hoarding players even when value was high, to its long-term detriment, leaving Wednesday asset-rich on paper but cash-poor in practice. When sales did come, they were usually forced and undervalued.

Now, for the first time in years, the club can afford to be deliberate.

Henrik Pedersen wants Charles as his first-choice goalkeeper. With Ethan Horvath a temporary option and the academy alternatives untested at this level, stability in goal is essential rather than optional.

New owners will also see the scale of the job in front of them. Financial pressure has eased, but the squad is still thin. Key areas lack depth. January may be their first real opportunity to reshape the team. A major sale would create room to do that quickly, but at a sporting cost.

A serious bid for Charles would therefore force a genuine choice - keeping him would be a commitment to patience and development, selling him would fund wider change. Both routes carry risk, and neither is comfortable.

There is a broader message, too. Retaining Charles would signal a break from an era in which Wednesday have failed to retain their best young players. It would suggest belief in building assets, not just cashing them in. A quick sale, even at a fair price, would show that the reset is still limited by market realities.

January will therefore be an early test of the new regime. Pierce Charles is a promising young goalkeeper in the shop window - and he may be the first real indicator of how Sheffield Wednesday intend to balance football logic with financial sense after years of disorder.