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Explained: Why Sheffield Wednesday turned down two offers for Jordan Rhodes

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Sheffield Wednesday have rejected multiple approaches for Jordan Rhodes this season despite the 30-year-old being out-of-form and out-of-favour, according to Yorkshire Live.

Rhodes has racked up less than 500 minutes of Championship football in 2019/20 and hasn’t featured under Garry Monk since January.

With Steven Fletcher, Connor Wickham, Fernando Forestieri and Atdhe Nuhiu ahead of Rhodes in the pecking order, Wednesday were expected to offload the striker to any willing suitor. They turned down Norwich City’s bid last summer, however, as the Canaries wanted Rhodes for free and Wednesday still owed money to Middlesbrough while needing income to abide by FFP.

Dejphon Chansiri told Yorkshire Live: “Norwich wanted to take Jordan Rhodes last summer but only on a free transfer. This made no sense to us and would actually cause us more problems with FFP as we would have to pay all the outstanding balance on his transfer from Middlesbrough.

“So it was better for Jordan to stay here and try to make his way into the team and score some goals. This year in January, another club offered a very low package, it was a deal that made no sense for us.

“My people also told me Celtic had supposedly made an offer but we demanded a very big loan fee that stopped the deal. Again, this is not true, there was no official approach or offer at all. If the deal is right for all parties we can move but if not we cannot, it is that simple.”

Celtic made an offer in January, but the Owls negotiated a larger loan fee which killed the deal. Cardiff City were also linked without the reported interest going anywhere. Rhodes still has one year remaining on his deal at Hillsborough, but his market value is currently £1.8m.

Suitors aren’t going to shell out a lot of money for an out-of-form striker that isn’t getting regular first-team football, especially considering Rhodes is the highest-earner at Wednesday on £40k-per-week. The Owls are unwilling to lose the striker for free but may not get a lot for him this summer.

Read Crippy Cooke’s previous article

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