"Quite outrageous" - Sheffield Wednesday told to alter transfer plans following £4.5m Ike Ugbo reveal | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday have received a setback in their attempts of resigning Ike Ugbo from Troyes

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…

Sheffield Wednesday have been dealt a significant blow in their ongoing pursuit of 2023/24 loan star Ike Ugbo, with Troyes' fresh asking price for the frontman adding difficulty to any hopes of striking a deal ahead of the upcoming campaign.

According to a recent Patreon report from The Sun's transfer guru Alan Nixon, the Owls will need to shell out £4.5 million in order to land Ugbo on a permanent basis following his impressive spell in South Yorkshire during the second half of last season.

Ugbo, who spent the opening half of the campaign with Championship rivals Cardiff City, scored seven times to help Danny Rohl's men secure survival against all odds.

The German boss is now eager to bring the former Chelsea attacker back to Hillsborough, having already made several summer acquisitions to date which includes proven Championship experience in the likes of Max Lowe, Nathaniel Chalobah and Jamal Lowe alongside another loanee from the previous term in Brighton stopper James Beadle.

Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit reacts to fresh Troyes, Ike Ugbo transfer valuation

In spite of Ugbo's influence in surviving relegation last time out, Football League World's Owls pundit Patrick Mckenna is understandably skeptical about any remote possibility of meeting the hefty asking price hiked up by Troyes, who he believes to be conducting a "power play" after selling Brazilian wing prodigy Savinho to Manchester City for £30.8 million (although both clubs are within the 'City Football Group' banner).

"It was a bit disappointing to hear that it seems Troyes are wanting a quite outrageous £4.5 million (fee) for Ike Ugbo," Patrick told Football League World.

"It seems with them selling a player for £30 million they feel they are in a situation where they have power now, they have money.

"As previously spoken about, I think there certainly has been negotiation going on between Troyes and Wednesday over Ugbo but it's almost like a power play now to put that price out.

"I think there's maybe been interest from other clubs and they probably feel that somebody will pay it. I have talked about what a fantastic contribution Ugbo made last season for Wednesday during his loan spell, but is he worth that much money?

"I would like to think that we will continue in negotiations for a bit longer to try and get the price down, because there's certainly no way we should ever think about paying £4.5 million.

"But if we can get it down to probably a maximum of £2 million then we should go for it. I do hope it's not a case of all the eggs being in one basket for Ugbo and we are actively pursuing other options.

"Although we've had a good start to the transfer window, the season is approaching and we need that goalscorer. Ideally, we get our next target in as soon as possible so we get more pre-season with the player. "I think also in regards to the £4.5 million, to be blowing that all on one player would essentially be a poor transfer strategy.

"In the past we have overpaid for players and have been let down, so a better strategy if we can't get the price down for Ugbo is to look to get a few players in for £4.5 million, but to buy him for that amount of money would be daft.

"To be honest, I don't think we will and part of me does want this (saga) over one way or another because we've got to move on and we can't let this transfer rumble on all pre-season."

Sheffield Wednesday should not entertain Troyes' Ike Ugbo asking price

Patrick is right to voice his own disapproval of Troyes' asking price for Ugbo, as he's simply not worth that much.

The Chelsea academy graduate has been a relatively reliable source of goals in the Championship, but there's little to suggest that he's worth £4.5m and question marks still remain following his disappointing loan spell with Cardiff.

While Ugbo was well among the goals at Hillsborough, his time in Wales was summarised by a poor all-round game which would see him scarcely threaten or offer much to Erol Bulut's side when the goals weren't flooding in.

Given that most strikers endure rough and dry patches of form at differing stages throughout the season, it's something Wednesday should really be wary of.

There's still plenty of goodwill for Ugbo in the blue side of the Steel City - and with good reason - and certain Owls fans will reasonably argue that he finally found the right manager and system during the latter stages of last term, but that surely wouldn't justify forking out over £4 million for his services.