Sheffield Wednesday should plot Ruben Selles move to replace Danny Rohl - but there's one big sticking point | OneFootball

Ruben Selles should be Sheffield Wednesday's top target to replace Danny Rohl this summer, but there could be one big stumbling block to a deal.

It is fair to say it has been a nightmare start to the summer for Sheffield Wednesday, and with the new season fast approaching, there is no end in sight to their current problems.

After their play-off push collapsed in the second half of the campaign, Wednesday finished 12th in the Championship last season, but while that still represented strong progress from the previous year, it looks highly unlikely the club will be able to build on that next term.

Having failed to pay the wages of players and staff on time in March, the same problem occurred again last month, and both the Owls and owner Dejphon Chansiri have been charged by the EFL for a breach of the league's regulations, while the club have also been placed under a transfer embargo, which is likely to turn into a three-window ban on paying transfer fees.

In addition to the financial problems at Hillsborough, there is also ongoing uncertainty over the future of Wednesday manager Danny Rohl, who again stated his desire to leave the club in an interview with the German press over the weekend.

So far, speculation linking Rohl with a host of other clubs, including Southampton, Leicester City, RB Leipzig and Werder Bremen, has come to nothing, but there are still some possible exit routes, with the 36-year-old believed to be on Middlesbrough's three-man shortlist of candidates to replace Michael Carrick, while he has also reportedly held positive talks with Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg.

It is unclear exactly where Rohl will be heading at this stage, but it is almost certain that he will not be in charge of the Owls next season, and as they prepare to begin the search for a new manager, former Southampton, Reading and Hull City boss Ruben Selles should be top of their wishlist.

Sheffield Wednesday must target Ruben Selles ahead of expected Danny Rohl exit

Of course, the current off-field crisis will have a big impact on Wednesday's managerial search, with few candidates likely to be willing to walk into such a chaotic situation, but Selles could fit the bill perfectly for the South Yorkshire outfit.

Selles took his first steps into management with Southampton in February 2023 when he replaced Nathan Jones with the club sitting bottom of the Premier League table, but after failing to keep the Saints in the top flight, he left St Mary's at the end of his short-term contract in the summer.

The 41-year-old was not out of work for long as he took over at Reading in June 2023, and he led his side to a 17th-placed finish in League One in his first year in charge, despite being hit with a six-point deduction and facing significant restrictions in the transfer market amid the turmoil of Dai Yongge's ownership.

The Royals were only able to make one loan signing in the summer transfer window, but they emerged as serious promotion contenders last season after making an excellent start to the campaign under Selles, and they sat sixth in the table when he departed for Hull in December.

Selles took over at the MKM Stadium with the Tigers languishing at the bottom of the Championship, but he managed to keep the club in the division on goal difference on the final day of the season before being harshly sacked by owner Acun Ilicali last month.

Hull may have only narrowly avoided relegation, but just 13 teams picked up more points than them in the second tier after Selles' arrival, while they also possessed one of the best defensive records in the same time period, so the Spaniard certainly did his reputation no harm during his spell in East Yorkshire, despite being dismissed just five months into his two-and-a-half year contract.

Having navigated a nightmare ownership situation at Reading so impressively, there could be few better choices than Selles to steady the ship at Wednesday, and his experience of leading Hull to Championship survival could certainly be useful for a club that are widely expected to be in a relegation battle next season.

According to the BBC, Selles ruled himself out of the running to take over at newly-relegated League One side Cardiff City last month as he is keen to remain in the second tier, and, as he seems unlikely to be considered by Leicester, Middlesbrough or QPR, the Owls could be his best chance of returning to the dugout before the start of the new season.

It remains to be seen whether Selles will be on Wednesday's radar when Rohl departs, but in a controversial interview back in April, Chansiri named Reading as an example of a club who have managed to remain competitive despite facing transfer restrictions, so he may view him as the perfect candidate to steer the club through an uncertain period.

However, even if Chansiri does make contact with Selles about the possibility of taking over at Hillsborough, there are big question marks over whether he would be willing to accept the job, particularly given his negative experiences of owners at his previous two clubs.

Selles worked in the most difficult circumstances imaginable at Reading under one of the worst owners ever seen in the EFL in Yongge, and while he was somehow still able to deliver results on the pitch, he admitted that the situation was "exhausting" prior to his move to Hull.

If Selles was hoping to find some stability at the MKM Stadium, that did not prove to be the case as he was unfairly sacked last month despite achieving his target of keeping the club in the Championship, and he is the third Tigers manager to be dismissed in the last 12 months by increasingly trigger-happy owner Ilicali.

After doing respectable jobs in each of his last two managerial roles, Selles has certainly earned the opportunity to show what he is capable of in a more stable environment, but the current situation at Wednesday is anything but that, meaning it may be hard for them to convince the ex-Southampton boss to make the move to Hillsborough.