From £250k to glory: How Sheffield Wednesday struck gold with this star | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday struck gold with the signing of Marcus Tudgay in 2006 for £250k.

Sheffield Wednesday have had a wide range of hugely successful and forgettable transfer stories in recent years, but Marcus Tudgay's story is certainly one of the most memorable in recent years.

Signed from Derby County in January 2006 for a reported fee of around £250,000, and would certainly go on to repay that fee with his contributions to the club over the next five years.

In his five seasons at the club, the striker became a reliable outlet of goals, forming a formidable partnership with strike colleague Deon Burton.

Tudgay was renowned around Hillsborough for his excellent eye for goal and physical presence, making him an absolute menace for any defenders to try and deal with.

By the time his career at Sheffield Wednesday concluded, Tudgay had established himself as a cult hero, and the £250k that the Owls reportedly paid for his services in 2006 turned out to be worth every penny.

Marcus Tudgay's memorable Sheffield Wednesday exploits

Tudgay rose through the ranks at Derby before breaking into the first-team in 2002, but would leave Pride Park in January 2006 for Sheffield Wednesday, who initially signed him on loan from the Rams.

However, after netting on his debut against Crewe Alexandra, Wednesday boss Paul Sturrock had seen enough to make the move a permanent deal, splashing a reported £250,000 on the striker.

After scoring vital goals for the Owls to keep them in the Championship in his first half-season at the club, Tudgay would only kick on from there, and would form a formidable strike partnership with Burton, which helped him net six goals in five games in the 2006-07 season after returning from injury.

The following year, Tudgay netted eight goals, which was slightly less than his 11 from the previous campaign. The most memorable was an excellent volley in the Steel City derby to lead his side to a 2-0 victory over their bitter rivals Sheffield United.

2008-09 would be the former Derby man's year, as he scored 14 league goals for the Yorkshire side, and was named Fans player of the month for February and March 2009 and received the PFA Fans Championship Player of the Year award, as well as the club's Player of the Year.

This naturally saw interest grow from elsewhere, but Tudgay pledged his allegiance to Wednesday by signing a new three-year deal in summer 2009, in response to a bid from Premier League side Burnley.

The following year would see the forward hit double figures in league goals again, but unfortunately the Owls were relegated to League One, with his contributions not being enough to keep them above the drop zone this time.

After a poor start to life in League One, Tudgay's Wednesday career came to an abrupt end, with him joining Nottingham Forest on loan in November 2010, before making it a permanent deal two months later.

£250k gamble created a Sheffield Wednesday hero in Marcus Tudgay

It only took one game for Sturrock to realise he wanted to splash the cash on Tudgay to make the deal permanent, and that one game paved the way for the making of an icon at the Yorkshire-based club.

Whilst the signing of the Englishman was largely a massive gamble, because his record at Derby wasn't groundbreaking, the £250k move proved to be a stroke of genius for Wednesday, and ultimately helped them retain their Championship status for many years.

When all was said and done, the striker had racked up over 200 appearances for the Owls, with 52 goals and 20 assists in all competitions, making him just the second Wednesday player to score over 50 goals since the turn of the century.

£250k spent to sign Tudgay was a huge gamble that paid off big time for the Owls.