This Ian Poveda factor could decide Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham City race for Leeds United freebie: View | OneFootball

Ian Poveda left Leeds United on deadline day in January to join Championship strugglers Sheffield Wednesday on loan for the remainder of the season.

A two-way tussle emerged in the hunt for Poveda's services, with Birmingham City and Wednesday eyeing a late transfer deadline day move. According to Alan Nixon via Patreon, Birmingham's boss Tony Mowbray was keen to add to his squad further despite bringing in a creative player in Alex Pritchard from Sunderland.

Of course, were Poveda to sign for Birmingham City, it would have seen the player reunited with Mowbray, whom he played under during his stint at Blackburn Rovers on loan during the 2021/22 campaign, but he chose Wednesday.

Ian Poveda's 2023/24 season

Daniel Farke opted to keep Poveda at Leeds in the summer, in spite of having a raft of wide men at his disposal who ranked ahead of him in the pecking order, with all of Crysencio Summerville, Dan James, and Willy Gnonto performing exceptionally well for the Whites this season.

Unsurprisingly, he featured very little under the German and was far from an important player at Elland Road. The Colombian international made a total of 10 appearances for Leeds this season, and his spell with the club has effectively come to an end, with the 24-year-old's four-and-a-half year contract coming to an end this summer.

He made just two appearances this season from the start, and 30 appearances in total in West Yorkshire following his move from Man City in January 2020, to join Marcelo Bielsa's promotion-chasing side.

The diminutive attacker is yet to really meet expectations wherever he has been until this season, as Poveda has failed to rip up any trees on loan with Blackburn and then Blackpool in the Championship in previous loan spells, too.

Although he has been on the fringes of Bielsa's and Farke's squad at times, he realistically needed to leave to gain regular first-team football elsewhere and a parting of ways suited both Leeds and Poveda in January

Poveda will have been hoping his latest loan to a fellow Yorkshire-based side in Wednesday could help reignite his career and help him to kick on in his development. He will need to find his creativity and goals if he is to help Wednesday survive.

He has so far done that and been hugely impressive for the relegation-threatened side, becoming a key player for Danny Röhl, becoming a regular feature in the starting XI, and has missed just one game since moving to Hillsborough.

That was a recent game against his parent club as he was ineligible. So far, in eight appearances, Poveda has one assist, but has been more impressive than the numbers suggest, with his dribbling ability in one-vs-one situations helping Wednesday to get up the pitch.

The issue with Ian Poveda

Since the move to South Yorkshire, Poveda is a man revitalised, and with his contract up in the summer, the Colombian international is playing for a new deal elsewhere. His performances have certainly caught the eye for Wednesday but TEAMtalk are reporting that alongside the Owls, Birmingham City will look to sign him on a permanent basis this summer.

As a free agent, the player will be able to weigh up deals from both clubs and decide which one is more appealing, with the report stating that it will come down to which club offers him the more attractive deal.

The issue for both clubs is Poveda's pay packet. According to estimates from Capology, the winger earns £8,250 per week, which is a fairly standard wage for most Championship clubs to be able to afford. Wednesday's highest contracted earner is Barry Bannan at just over £24,000 per their estimates, whilst Birmingham pay Krystian Bielik a reported £20,000 weekly wage.

Those figures suggest that agreeing terms with Poveda would be easy; however, Football League World sources have informed us that his Leeds wage is "significantly higher" than the estimates from Capology. Part of the reason he was initially able to move to Leeds with very little fee involved was to put most of the finances of the deal into a major contract, which increased his wage further upon Leeds' 2020 promotion to the top flight.

That is a potential stumbling block for clubs such as Wednesday and Birmingham this summer, and many other Championship clubs who could be casting a keen eye over Poveda as well.