Sheffield Wednesday dealt big Jaden Heskey blow - EFL have made decision on Man City deal | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday have been dealt a significant blow after the EFL made a ruling over their proposed move for Manchester City's Jaden Heskey.

Sheffield Wednesday have been dealt yet another blow with an EFL ruling over their proposed signing of the Manchester City midfielder Jaden Heskey.

Sheffield Wednesday's chaotic summer and start to the 2025-26 season has left the club is desperate need of reinforcements, if the club is to have a realistic prospect of avoiding relegation from the Championship. One point from their first four games of the season have left them one place off the bottom of the table, amid ongoing protests from supporters against owner Dejphon Chansiri.

The club had been under a transfer embargo over unpaid wages, but even though this embargo was lifted when payment was brought up-to-date last month, the club are still under a fee restriction and are required to put every proposed incoming move to the EFL's Club Financial Review Unit ("CFRU"). They now seem to be finding out, however, that this can still cause problems when trying to bring new players in.

Sheffield Wednesday move for Jaden Heskey is blocked by the EFL

Sheffield Wednesday had been involved in talks to bring the talented young midfielder Jaden Heskey to Hillsborough, but it's now been reported by journalist Pete O'Rourke that this proposed move has been blocked by the EFL. It had even been previously reported that this move had been approved.

Wednesday are reportedly running into problems with the EFL because the League's CFRU has little to no confidence that the club will be able to pay their wages on time at the end of each month. This means that even any loan deals to bring in new players may require the parent club to pay their wages in full, and parent clubs are under no obligation whatsoever to agree that.

It has also been reported that Manchester United's Harry Amass is set to join the club, and that Manchester United were prepared to foot that bill in the case of this particular player. Capology estimate Amass's current wages to be a fairly modest £5,000-a-week. But with just hours of the window left, even this deal has not been concluded, while the Heskey deal has now also reportedly been blocked.

The only player that Sheffield Wednesday had been permitted to bring in over the course of the entire summer window had been the loan signing until January of goalkeeper Ethan Horvath from Cardiff City, and this came about as a result of an injury to first-choice goalkeeper Pierce Charles. But this is the only move that Wednesday have been able to conclude all summer, and with time now running out before the transfer window slams shut, the Sheffield Wednesday squad looks as threadbare as ever.

The club's move from being under a transfer embargo to being under fee restrictions hasn't eased the club's pain in any way. They are still required to run everything transfer through the CFRP, and there seems to be little confidence that they would be able to pay their wages on time every month.

The BBC's Rob Staton reported at the end of last week that it was expected that they would be able to do so by the end of August, but getting that done doesn't seem to have impressed the EFL. Jaden Heskey's current wage is estimated by Salary Sport to be £3,100-a-week, but any loan for the player would have been contingent on City continuing to pay his wages, and they are within their rights to decline to do so.

The EFL's concerns are valid. Sheffield Wednesday had failed to pay their wages on time in four of the five months prior to the end of August, and although there seems to have been some movement over the American businessman John Textor buying the club, this is at best still in its very early stages and still seems to be nowhere near completion. Without fresh investment into the club, there isn't an obvious way in which paying those wages on time will become any easier over the coming months.

But none of this will relieve the pressure hanging over Sheffield Wednesday, who now seem likely to have to wait until the January transfer window before they can even look to bring in many more of the players that head coach Henrik Pedersen desperately needs to make his team competitive.