13 players leaving Sheffield Wednesday this summer with first-team experience
Sheffield Wednesday will have another summer turnover this year, with a number of senior players moving on now that the season has finished.
The Star has previously reported that several first-team players could be on the move this summer, and now it has been confirmed that 13 players who have been in and around senior squads in recent years will be moving on at the end of their respective deals.
Long-serving Owls, one-appearance youngsters and plenty inbetween will be moving on from Middlewood Road this summer, while – as things stand – they have just 19 players with first team experience who are contracted for the 2025/26 campaign.
Here’s a list of all of those leaving the club this summer that have had a taste of the first team at S6, including a couple of players who played a huge part in promotion a couple of years ago.
1. Joey Phuthi
A lot was expected of young Phuthi having climbed up through the ranks at Hillsborough, and his exit came as a shock to some. He’s already been out on trial at Huddersfield Town. | Steve Ellis
2. Sam Reed
Reed had a decent spell at Wednesday after joining his boyhood club, and was made captain of the U21s during his time at Middlewood Road. A strong loan spell with Scarborough Athletic will give him options once he leaves. | SWFC YouTube
Former Newcastle United man who sparked Sheffield Wednesday frenzy made free agent after three months
The former Burnley man, who joined the Owls in a season-long temporary switch from Newcastle United for the 2023/24 campaign, struggled to make much of an impact across just 12 senior appearances, with only 14 minutes of action coming after the start of December.
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Indeed, Hendrick was only registered late on in the enthralling second half of their historic survival comeback mission alongside Lee Gregory – though by the admission of Wednesday boss Danny Röhl himself, it’s a mission that started with a flick of the 79-cap international’s right boot.
Röhl’s Owls had won only one of their first six matches when table-topping Leicester City came to S6 in late November 2023, with Wednesday rock bottom of the table and smarting from a gut-wrenching defeat at under-par Birmingham City. Some 10 points from safety after just 17 matches, the mission looked doomed to fail despite an encouraging upturn in performance.
Hendrick’s late equaliser blew the roof off Hillsborough and gave the Owls a new lease of life. The rest, as they say, is history.
Now 33, the former Wednesday man is a free agent having been released by Derby County without making an appearance. Following the end of his loan with Wednesday he was let go from his contract with Newcastle but signed with the Rams in March in a bid to bolster their relegation-scrapping squad.
