"Lucas Joao more than Dwight Gayle" - Claim made as Sheffield Wednesday eye ex-Stoke City man | OneFootball

Highlights

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Despite the closure of the winter transfer window on February 1st, many sides across the EFL may feel the need to dip into the free agent market in the coming weeks to bolster their respective squads.

One man who will be hoping for a new lease of life in this situation is the vastly experienced centre-forward Dwight Gayle, who was recently released by Stoke City in the latter stages of the window, which gives him the chance to seek a new challenge in English football, or potentially further afield.

One of multiple sides linked as Gayle's next destination comes in the form of Sheffield Wednesday, with the Owls in a desperate situation towards the bottom of the Championship.

It was revealed by the highly-reputable transfer guru Fabrizio Romano that Wednesday were one of up to five clubs in either the second tier or in League One named dropped in such conversations, with the others being promotion-chasing Ipswich Town, Charlton Athletic, Derby County and Barnsley.

The former Newcastle United striker would add further experience to Danny Rohl's front line in what remains of a crucial period of the season. However, our Owls fan pundit Callum Maxted believes that Gayle is not the answer to their goalscoring problems.

"If it was me, I would maybe be going for someone like Lucas Joao more than Dwight Gayle," Maxted began. "I don't know enough about Dwight Gayle to say whether he's good enough or not."

"From the past couple of years based off what we've seen, he doesn't look like someone who is good enough anymore.

Maxted concluded: "He had a good few years at Crystal Palace and Newcastle, but other than that I can't see him pulling up any trees anytime soon at the age of 34, with so little football under his belt, to be honest."

Is Dwight Gayle the answer for Sheffield Wednesday?

As our fan pundit mentions, Gayle has seen his overall game time decrease massively at the Bet365 Stadium this season, which in a way is down to the number of options Steven Schumacher has at his disposal.

Last season, he only scored three times and registered five assists in 35 overall Championship appearances, but only made 10 this season prior to the termination of his contract in the Potteries late on Transfer Deadline Day after Stoke confirmed the signing of Niall Ennis from Blackburn Rovers.

It's no secret that Wednesday have struggled to find the net this season, as they are still the league's lowest scorers with a tally of just 22 goals from 30 games at present - an average of 0.73 goals per game so far.

Anthony Musaba is currently their top scorer with four goals, so it speaks volumes, and it is understandable why such links between Gayle and a move to Hillsborough have surfaced.

However, the fact Stoke have also only found the net 28 times and still decided to part ways with the man who struck 23 times in Newcastle's title-winning season will send alarm bells around the Wednesdayites that he isn't the answer they need at this moment in time.

Other free agents available for Danny Rohl

A lot of people connected with the Hillsborough side will understandably be frustrated with the lack of attacking quality in the squad, with it only growing further as Blackburn Rovers beat the Owls to the signing of Duncan McGuire from Orlando City.

As Maxted referenced, he would be open to seeing Lucas Joao return to Hillsborough, although the landscape of the club has drastically changed from his first spell in the Steel City.

The Angolan international departed for Reading in an estimated £5m deal four-and-a-half years ago, after scoring 26 goals in 112 games for the club, and subsequently scoring 42 times in 116 games for the Royals.

Most recently, he netted three times in 10 appearances for Chinese outfit Shanghai Port.

Therefore, on the face of it, a deal for Joao would have extreme similarities to if Gayle joined, the only difference being there is a pre-established connection between the two parties.

Rohl's side suffered a huge dent in their prospects of pulling off a great escape last time out, as they were defeated 4-0 by Yorkshire and relegation rivals Huddersfield Town on Saturday afternoon, opening up an eight point gap between the two sides.

Next up for Wednesday is a home tie against Tony Mowbray's Birmingham City side in S6 on Friday night, with the Owls looking for their first league win since New Year's Day.