Ike Ugbo to leave Sheffield Wednesday? 'There's no way back' as new situation emerges | OneFootball

FLW's Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit has shared their thoughts on Ike Ugbo after the striker's latest actions

Sheffield Wednesday will be playing League One football once again next season, and had you told even the most optimistic of Owls supporters that just under 12 months ago, you'd have done well to find anyone particularly surprised by it.

Indeed, the Owls faced the drop from the Championship this campaign, winning just two games all season, ultimately finishing on zero points.

The club was handed an initial 12-point deduction for entering administration, which was then extended to 18 in total after a further six points were docked for late payments, as the Owls clawed their way back from negative points on the final day with a 2-1 home win over West Bromwich Albion.

Unable to bring in players, seeing some of their star assets leave over the past 12 months, such as Bailey Cadamarteri, Barry Bannan, Djeidi Gassama, Josh Windass, and Anthony Musaba, as well as dealing with finding a new owner, it hasn't been a straightforward year at Hillsborough by any means.

With numerous players promoted from the youth sides and thrust into the action as a result of their lack of numbers, head coach Henrik Pedersen deserves plaudits for the way he has dealt with the entire situation, and his choice to leave out a £2.5 million striker for the bulk of the season says a thousand words, with the players' latest antics indicating a surely imminent departure.

Ike Ugbo has removed all mentions of Sheffield Wednesday from his Instagram page as exit murmurs emerge

Ike Ugbo has had an unconventional career, and now, at 27, his future appears to be at a crossroads.

The Canadian international came through the ranks at Chelsea and spent time out on loan with the likes of Barnsley, MK Dons, Scunthorpe United, Roda, and Cercle Brugge before making the permanent move to Belgium with Genk.

Spells with Troyes in France and then Cardiff City followed, before an excellent loan spell with Wednesday in the second half of the 2023/24 season in which he scored seven goals in 18 games prompted the Owls to spend £2.5 million to bring him to the club, where he has yet to score a league goal in 55 appearances, and has now removed every trace of Wednesday from his Instagram.

Football League World's Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit, Patrick McKenna, has shared their thoughts on Ugbo and whether they think the striker will leave the club this summer.

Patrick said: "With Ike, although, unfortunately, I don't think it's inevitable he leaves, he is still a player under contract, woefully out of form. So it's whether there are any buyers for him that are willing to spend the transfer fee on him, or even if it's a loan to take on some of the wages.

"It's obvious that his time at the club here is done, and there's no way back for him. You know, even Henrik Pedersen, with his great man management skills, who managed to build a squad with a great union last season, Ugbo wasn't part of that, and it seemed even Henrik had given up on him.

"In the end, Ugbo didn't want to be there, so if he couldn't get game time in the weakest squad in Championship history in a record-breaking bad system, then yeah, it's time for him to go, but unfortunately, as a club, we are still lumbered with him.

"Maybe, you know, I think there will be an effort on our side to look at a way of selling him. But whether we can get a good deal for him is one thing, and how much money can we afford to losing him? I don't know, because we are still just out of financial trouble, and it might be a case that we will have to stick with the next season, but let's see."

Henrik Pedersen must find a solution for Ike Ugbo at Sheffield Wednesday

Ugbo, despite Wednesday's lack of options up top, managed just over 600 minutes of Championship football this season across 21 appearances, without scoring a goal, extending his goalless run to two campaigns now.

It's been a torrid switch for everyone involved, and the Owls almost certainly won't be recouping anything near the £2.5 million they paid to bring him to the club just under two years ago.

Still taking up a hefty chunk of wages, Ugbo's contract at Hillsborough isn't due to expire until the summer of 2028, creating a difficult problem for the club.

Whether Ugbo will be happy to take a wage hit and move elsewhere remains to be seen, but with Wednesday's financial woes still rife, a solution to his situation must be found sooner rather than later.