Sheffield Wednesday gambling on Man United player decision has paid off: View | OneFootball

One move by the Owls last summer could now prove very profitable down the line

Highlights

It certainly feels as though there are plenty of reasons for those connected with Sheffield Wednesday to be excited so far this summer.

A remarkable upturn in form for the Owls under Danny Rohl late last season saw them complete a great escape from relegation to League One, meaning they are still a Championship club.

Indeed, the quality they showed under Rohl in getting themselves out of trouble, also suggests they ought to now be climbing up the table in the coming campaign.

The confidence they should have about doing that also ought to be growing, given the business they have done to further strengthen the squad as well.

Not only have Sheffield Wednesday signed nine new first-team players already, they have also secured new contracts for several key players already on their books as well.

Sheffield Wednesday secure key Bernard deal

Having already confirmed new contracts for Josh Windass and Dominic Iorfa this summer, that business continued for the club this week.

It has been announced that centre-back Di'Shon Bernard has now put pen to paper on a new long-term deal of his own at Hillsborough.

According to reports, the 23-year-old has put pen to paper on a new three-year deal with Sheffield Wednesday.

As a result, the defender's future with the Owls is now secure until the end of the 2026/27 season.

Having completed that deal, it could now be argued that one apparent gamble Sheffield Wednesday took last summer, has certainly paid off.

Sheffield Wednesday move for Di'Shon Bernard vindicated

It was, of course, only last summer that Bernard made his move to Hillsborough, joining on a free transfer following the expiration of his contract at Manchester United.

The centre-back had only ever made one first-team appearance for the Red Devils, with the vast majority of his experience coming through spells out on loan elsewhere.

After a stint in League Two with Salford City, the centre-back then had a somewhat mixed campaign with Hull City in the Championship during the 2021/22 season.

Having initially been a regular for the Tigers at the start of that season, Bernard found himself dropping down the pecking order at the MKM Stadium.

The defender did not start a league game for Hull after February 2022, being used only even once as a substitute after that point, despite regularly featuring in the matchday squad.

Returning to Old Trafford after that loan in the summer of 2022, Bernard then remained with the club for a brief period, eventually heading back out on loan again in January 2023.

At that point, the centre-back would drop down to League One to get a move, this time linking up with Portsmouth.

During his stint at Fratton Park, he would feature in ten of the 20 league games that Pompey played following his arrival at the club.

As a result, those records for Bernard during his stints with Hull and Portsmouth in particular, therefore meant he may have been something of a risky signing for Sheffield Wednesday.

The centre-back had dropped down the pecking order during his previous spell in the Championship, and then not established himself as a permanent feature in League One.

There may, therefore, have been some questions about just how reliable an option Bernard would have been for Sheffield Wednesday as they returned to the Championship last season.

In the end, though, they need not have worried, with Bernard producing a string of outstanding performances for the Owls across the course of the campaign.

Indeed, the 23-year-old's contributions in defence felt vital to helping the club haul themselves out of trouble to avoid relegation, and became a popular figure around Hillsborough in the process.

That, though, left Sheffield Wednesday exposed differently with Bernard, due to the fact that he had only signed a one-year deal with the club last summer.

Because of that, there was a risk of the centre-back leaving the club for nothing ahead of the start of next season, which had left the Owls facing the possibility of losing a key asset, for no return.

However, that is no longer a concern, with this new contract ensuring that there is now no threat of him leaving the club anytime soon.

Instead, Sheffield Wednesday now know that if Bernard is to leave in the near future, it will have to be on their terms when it comes to a potential.

Given they signed him for nothing, that ensures they now stand to make a decent profit on the centre-back at some point in the future.

Should he continue to perform and improve as he did last season, the Owls can also be confident that any fee required to take him elsewhere would have to be a sizable one to justify a sale.