Carlos Carvalhal was convinced Sheffield Wednesday recruit was a "top goalscorer" - £500k per goal says different | OneFootball

The Owls paid £10m to acquire Jordan Rhodes from Middlesbrough in 2017, but his time at Hillsborough didn't go to plan...

Sheffield Wednesday made a statement of intent with the signing of revered Championship goalscorer Jordan Rhodes from Middlesbrough in July 2017.

The striker had previously spent the second half of the 2016/17 season on loan with the Owls, before completing a permanent move to Hillsborough at the end of the season for a reported fee of £10m.

However, during the midst of a goal drought during the 2017/18 season, then Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal backed Rhodes to eventually come good for the club, claiming he was a "top goalscorer".

Over the following few years, Rhodes would struggle to live up to his price tag, and indeed that particular claim from Carvalhal with the club, and ultimately became one of Wednesday's most expensive transfer misses in recent times.

At the time of Carvalhal's public backing of his striker, Rhodes had gone eight games without a goal for Wednesday. Carvalhal said:"Strikers live on goals and when they don’t score, it looks like everything is negative...

“He needs one goal to be with more confidence. But this goal will arrive and the confidence will arrive because we know the abilities of the player. We know he’s a top goalscorer. I still believe he will score a lot of goals at Sheffield Wednesday.”

For a short while, this appeared to have been a masterstroke from the Owls boss, as Rhodes would score in Wednesday's very next match vs Millwall, and then follow that up with another goal in the following game against Aston Villa, in November 2017.

However, he would only go on to score a further three goals over the remainder of the Championship season, taking his league tally for that campaign to five goals in 31 league appearances.

Carvalhal had every right to feel confident that Rhodes would start scoring goals though, as his time with Blackburn Rovers in particular had earned him a reputation as one of the most feared strikers in the division.

84 goals in 169 appearances for Rovers between 2012-2016 saw the Scotsman establish himself as one of the most prolific centre-forwards in the second tier, whilst three high-scoring seasons in League One with Huddersfield Town prior is where he'd first display his goalscoring ability.

Carvalhal would be sacked on Christmas Eve 2017, with the club in 15th in the Championship.

Owls commissioned Rhodes exit after first full season at Hillsborough

After an underwhelming debut season at Hillsborough, Rhodes was allowed to leave the club on loan, as he joined Norwich City for the duration of the 2018/19 campaign.

He would only fare slightly better at Carrow Road though, as he would bag six goals in 36 Championship appearances, whilst also notching a further three goals in the League Cup.

Only nine of those league appearances came as starts, however, as he would largely play second fiddle to Norwich's cult hero striker Teemu Pukki, who would score 29 goals in 43 Championship games that season.

With no permanent deal on the cards, Rhodes would return to Wednesday for the 2019/20 season, and was given somewhat of a fresh start on his quest to repay his transfer fee as a result.

Rhodes cements Owls misfire with two further frustrating seasons

Unfortunately, Rhodes was unable to produce the goals that Carvalhal was once so confident that he could in a Wednesday shirt.

In 2019/20, he would once again find himself playing a backup role, as Steven Fletcher and Atdhe Nuhiu were the preferred options in attack that year.

As a result, Rhodes would make just 16 appearances in the Championship that term, with seven of those being starts. He would score just three goals.

Nuhiu and Fletcher would both leave at the end of that season, however, paving the way for Rhodes to cement himself as Wednesday's main man.

But, with just seven goals in 36 Championship outings, supporters were once again left frustrated at his lack of production in front of goal.

That 2020/21 season would be the nail in Rhodes' Sheffield Wednesday coffin, as he would leave the club on a free transfer, before joining Huddersfield Town in July 2021.

20 goals in 112 Owls appearances equates to a £500k fee for every goal that Rhodes scored in a Wednesday shirt, certainly not the sort of production many were expecting when he signed for the club.