Wolves & Ipswich regrets? Sheffield Wednesday struck Dominic Iorfa transfer gold | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday hit the jackpot with the signing of Dominic Iorfa from Wolverhampton Wanderers in January 2019.

Sheffield Wednesday have had some cult heroes throughout much of the last decade or so as they make their way through tricky times and remember some brilliant moments, but one player may not get that much recognition despite his service.

The Owls have been fortunate to have some really quality players and long-term servants throughout the last few years, with some standouts perhaps being the likes of Liam Palmer and Barry Bannan.

However, someone who has made over 200 appearances for the club and helped them to a League One promotion, while also having been named the Player of the Year on a separate occasion at Hillsborough, is Dominic Iorfa.

Having come through the academy at Southend United and then Wolverhampton Wanderers, Southend-born Iorfa was one of many young players to find his feet in first-team football with Wolves following their yo-yoing from the Premier League all the way down to League One and then back up to the Championship.

Having experienced a short stint at Shrewsbury Town, Iorfa became a key member of the squad at Molineux prior to the appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo, when he began to get fazed out by the title chasers.

Following a fairly disappointing loan stint with Ipswich Town, Iorfa established himself as a key man in South Yorkshire – perhaps providing regret to Ipswich supporters.

Ipswich Town did not see the best of Dominic Iorfa

In the 2017/18 campaign, as Wolves romped their way to the second-tier title, Dominic Iorfa was loaned out to Ipswich under the management of Mick McCarthy.

As the Tractor Boys meandered to a mid-table finish in the second-tier, Iorfa struggled to make much of an impact with the East Anglians.

Over the course of the campaign, Iorfa found himself as just a squad player for Town, with his versatility at the time perhaps doing him a disservice as he was used as a utility man rather than as a specialist in one specific role – preventing him from finding the consistency to flourish in one position.

That versatility, though, is something that was cherished and embellished at Hillsborough, with Iorfa eventually leaving Wolves mid-way through the 2018/19 season, having not featured in the Premier League.

Right from the very start, rather than being forgettable at Ipswich, Iorfa made himself a cult hero from the off at Wednesday with his second career goal coming on debut for the Owls to snatch a point against South Yorkshire rivals Rotherham United.

From there, Iorfa didn’t really look back and went on to establish himself as a fulcrum of Wednesday’s side, going on to be named the club’s Player of the Year in his first campaign.

Dominic Iorfa’s longevity and versatility has been key for Sheffield Wednesday

In that campaign in which he was named their Player of the Year, Iorfa started the season out at right-back, where he had come through with Wolves and flourished on occasion with powerful, marauding runs forward into the final third.

However, his ability to read the game as he became more experienced was his greater asset at Hillsborough and that saw Garry Monk move him into a centre-back role.

Injuries began to massively plague Iorfa again, as had been a theme with Wolves in the early part of his career, and it is probably not a coincidence that his absence for so much of the 2020/21 season also saw Wednesday succumb to Championship relegation.

Again, such was the importance of Iorfa, his continued injury issues in League One can go a long way as to explaining why Wednesday felt short of Wigan Athletic and Rotherham United’s automatic promotion pace in the 2021/22 season.

When available for Wednesday, they lost one in just over every six matches, whereas during his frustrating injury layoffs they would lose one in every four and a half matches.

Iorfa began to return to full fitness in the 2022/23 campaign and Wednesday were at their best when he was with four superb performances to round off the campaign and four victories for the Owls as they finished third on 97 points. In the play-offs, their remarkable comeback against Peterborough United was in large part down to the extremely impressive defensive job done by Darren Moore’s men and led by Iorfa.

Having signed and immediately become a key man to the point of being named as the Player of the Year, for overcoming persistent injuries to ensure Wednesday returned to their rightful spot in the second-tier – and remaining there to this day, Iorfa has done more than enough to etch himself into Wednesday folklore.

His versatility of having played in a variety of positions from full-back, wing-back and centre-back to even a spell in defensive midfield and his sheer longevity marks Iorfa out as a real gem – and one that perhaps both Ipswich and Wolves failed to polish up.