"No huge miss" - Millwall urged to sanction Barry Bannan exit as Sheffield Wednesday talk swirls | OneFootball

Millwall's Barry Bannan could return to Sheffield Wednesday this summer, just months after joining the Lions.

Millwall’s season ended in disappointment as they were beaten by Hull City over two legs in the play-offs.

Even though the Lions failed to achieve their objective of reaching the Premier League, there’s no denying it has been a campaign of major progress for Millwall under Alex Neil.

They had a shot of a top two finish going into the final day, and it’s clear they are heading in the right direction. Now, the challenge is to build on this good work with a productive summer transfer window to ensure Millwall are competing for promotion once again in 12 months.

Millwall's Barry Bannan tipped to secure return to Sheffield Wednesday this summer

Of course, there will be a focus on incomings, but Neil will be aware that he needs to balance the squad, so some departures are also on the cards, and Barry Bannan faces an uncertain future.

The classy midfielder only joined Millwall in January from Sheffield Wednesday, agreeing an 18-month deal at The Den.

In total, Bannan played 16 times for the Londoners, but many of those outings were from the bench. Plus, the 36-year-old’s wife, Chloe, appeared to criticise Neil on social media on multiple occasions in the aftermath of the defeat to Hull in the play-offs.

Therefore, with Wednesday apparently keen on bringing the playmaker back to Hillsborough, a return to Yorkshire could suit all parties this summer.

And, when quizzed on the prospect of Bannan moving on after a matter of months, FLW's Millwall fan pundit Lucas Ball admitted that he wouldn’t be bothered if a move was finalised.

“I wouldn’t mind Bannan going back at all," Lucas told Football League World.

"He did well in some games, but didn’t do enough in others, and it didn’t feel like Neil knew how to get the best out of him.

“He’s probably not the most suited to the way we wanted to play, and the way that suits our other players best.

“We certainly need to be more of a possession-based side, generally if someone like Bannan was to succeed here. It was a good option to get a couple of games, to give us more control in certain games, and to give us more chance of breaking down a low block.

“His wife on social media was not helping after the play-offs, which ended in her deactivating her X account, I believe.

“It was probably always a short-term move, and there were murmurs that he had seen it more as a holiday down here than a permanent relocation.

'It didn’t really feel like he wanted to leave Wednesday in the first place, so it is what it is, and, frankly, if players don’t want to be here, then let them go.

“He’ll be no huge miss for us, and, at his age, he’s probably better suited to League One. So, good luck to him if he goes back to Wednesday, and I’m not too fussed overall.”

Barry Bannan couldn’t make the difference for Millwall in their promotion push

You can understand why Millwall brought Bannan to the club in January, because he has specific qualities that the side do lack, so it was hoped that he could make a big difference in that sense.

To be fair, he did show his undoubted quality on the ball in certain games, but it was always going to be difficult for him to nail down a place in the XI because he was joining a team that had been performing so well.

So, he probably didn’t get the game time he would’ve wanted, and that frustration was shown by his wife after the Hull defeat, when Bannan could have been brought on earlier.

At 36, Bannan will want to be playing as much as possible, so dropping to League One with Wednesday, a club that means so much to him, would appear to suit all parties.

As outlined above, it’s a shame for Millwall and Bannan that this didn’t go how they would’ve wanted, but it was a low-risk move for the club as they rolled the dice to try and win promotion.