Sheffield Wednesday struck brief Sunderland AFC transfer gold - Ipswich Town saw it coming | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday struck gold with the signing of former Ipswich Town striker Connor Wickham from Sunderland.

In the 2013/14 campaign, as Sheffield Wednesday stumbled around the Championship once again, there was a fleeting moment for the Owls where they may have believed they had stumbled upon an absolute gem that could really dig them out of the mire.

In November 2013, Sheffield Wednesday brought in young striker Connor Wickham on a short-term loan deal from Premier League outfit Sunderland.

Wickham had been a player of immense promise and potential when coming through at Ipswich Town, making his debut at 16 and enjoying a major impact as young as 17.

The Hereford-born striker steadily grew into life at Portman Road and, after a 2010/11 season in which he turned 18 in March and had scored nine goals in 37 appearances in the second-tier, excitement levels about Wickham truly began to grow.

A move to the Premier League, and especially a move to what was a fairly chaotic club in Sunderland, perhaps came too soon for Wickham – but it was a benefit to Sheffield Wednesday and the Tractor Boys were left with little surprise at subsequent exploits.

Sheffield Wednesday struck gold with Connor Wickham

Under the management of former Cardiff City boss Dave Jones until early-December, Sheffield Wednesday spent the first-half of the 2013/14 season in desperate circumstances.

The South Yorkshire outfit won just one of their opening 16 games that season and sat rock-bottom as late as November and in the bottom three and the relegation places as late as the New Year.

However, performances and results had been improving since the departure of Jones and the appointment of Stuart Gray but, perhaps more importantly, since the arrival of Wickham.

Wickham made his Wednesday debut in that one win in their opening 16 games, with the Owls defeating Reading, a former academy club of Wickham, by five goals to two at Hillsborough and the young Englishman notching one and providing two assists.

The next month and a half or so saw Sheffield Wednesday eventually clamber away from the drop zone with Wickham going on to score eight goals and provide three assists overall in just 11 appearances.

His final home game for the club was a memorable one as Wednesday hammered Yorkshire rivals Leeds United by six goals to nil in mid-January, with Wickham scoring the last of his eight goals.

Prior to his signing, Wednesday were rock-bottom and had collected just eight points from 15 games. When he was recalled by Sunderland in mid-January, Wednesday had moved up to 19th in the table and collected 17 points from 11 games.

Sheffield Wednesday may have helped inspire Sunderland to safety

In the second-half of the campaign, Sheffield Wednesday were unable to lure Wickham back to Hillsborough with the former England youth international having endured an underwhelming loan stint at Leeds in the spring.

After failing to score in five appearances at Elland Road, Wickham returned to parent club Sunderland, who themselves appeared destined for the drop, too.

In the relegation zone, Sunderland then managed to collect 13 points from five matches with a draw against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium as well as famous away wins against Chelsea and Manchester United, as well as victories at home to Cardiff City and West Bromwich Albion.

That run of form had been almost entirely inspired by the return of Wickham to the Stadium of Light with a magnificent brace against City to help the Black Cats fight back from 2-0 down as well as the winner against Chelsea and the assist for the winner against United – as well as a brace against Cardiff.

For a second time in a season, Wickham had got himself on a hot streak that would see him almost singlehandedly propel a team away from almost certain relegation.

While Wickham was performing his heroics at Sunderland, Wednesday had steadied themselves and eventually finished 16th but they couldn’t quite kick on and find the form that Wickham had shown for them.

Chris Maguire was the only man to score more for Wednesday that season, notching nine in the Championship, having played 16 more games for the club that season and with seven of those nine goals coming after Wickham had departed.

No player had contributed more to Sheffield Wednesday’s ability to climb away from danger that season, despite how short-lived his time with the Owls was, and Wednesday truly had struck gold with his signing.