How EFL decision could affect Bannan, Famewo and Paterson at Sheffield Wednesday | OneFootball

The Owls were placed under an embargo on Thursday evening.

Sheffield Wednesday have been placed under an embargo by the EFL that could hamper their abilities to re-sign the three soon-to-be out-of-contract players that they offered fresh terms to.

The EFL placed the sanction on the Owls on Tuesday. It prohibits them from having more than 23 players of "professional standing" in their squad and could be just the first penalties that they face as a result of their poor financial practices.

It all comes as a result of the club failing to pay members of its playing, coaching and normal staff the salaries they were owed from May. As of now, the morning of Friday, 6th June, this issue is still yet to be resolved as owner Dejphon Chansiri scrambles to find the requisite funds to fix the matter. Until then, Wednesday will remain under an embargo.

The club is also at threat of receiving a three-window transfer ban as a result of their late payments. Teams are not allowed to amass 30 days of late payments over a 12-month period, regarding wages and payments to HMRC.

Having missed a deadline to pay the latter in October and then failed to pay the players' March salaries on time, an issue that took them within a day of breaching the 30-day rule, as Chansiri revealed, Wednesday are at serious risk of being hit with this damaging punishment.

Sheffield Wednesday face re-signing issue as embargo hits

Problems relating to signing talents may not just be long-term. Wednesday offered new deals to three of their players who are currently set to become free agents this summer: club captain Barry Bannan, Akin Famewo and Callum Paterson.

If all three of those players, who are yet to officially commit to the Owls, were to agree to come back, they wouldn't be able to sign all of them until the embargo was lifted as the club would then have 24 players of "professional standing."

Famewo and Paterson have reported interest from other clubs. The central defender is being eyed by newly promoted Charlton Athletic, while the Scot is liked by teams from both the second and third tiers, as per The Star.

Sheffield Wednesday will find it hard to convince the free agent trio to stay at Hillsborough

The trio's current lack of commitment to Wednesday is probably the smart thing for them to do right now. The financial mess at Hillsborough could continue to affect everyone at the club while Chansiri is at the helm, and even though there is an American consortium that wants to buy the club, the chances of that happening soon are very slim.

Even someone like Bannan, who has pledged a hefty chunk of his career to helping the Owls get back to where he feels they should be, is yet to agree to stay, and why would he in the current climate?