Three free agents Sheffield Wednesday should sign include veteran defender and ex-Sunderland duo

Add as preferred source on Google

Sheffield Wednesday may need to dip into the free agent market before the Owls lose too much ground in the Championship survival fight.

Sheffield Wednesday head coach Henrik Pedersen has been handed a depleted, inexperienced and makeshift squad for the 2025/26 Championship season.

The Owls’ financial issues under the ownership of Dejphon Chansiri bled into the summer transfer window, seeing only two fresh faces arrive in S6.

Sheffield Wednesday signed Harry Amass on loan from Manchester United, as well as bringing in emergency goalkeeper Ethan Horvath on loan from Cardiff City.

EFL Analysis exclusively revealed that Sheffield Wednesday are exploring the free agent market, and if the EFL allows the club to make moves for stars without a club, here are three who could aid the Owls’ plight.

• READ MORE: Sheffield Wednesday fans slam Dejphon Chansiri amid cry for help with Thai Embassy protest letter

Three free agents Sheffield Wednesday should sign

Craig Dawson

Pedersen is struggling for quality options in most positions of his Sheffield Wednesday squad, but there are particular issues at centre-back after Di’Shon Bernard suffered a long-term injury.

With Dominic Iorfa and Gabriel Otegbayo his best options in the heart of defence, Sheffield Wednesday should target former Wolves stalwart Craig Dawson.

Although he only featured 16 times last term for the Molineux outfit, the 35-year-old defender’s experience built up over his 16-year career would be a major benefit both to the Owls’ backline and their litany of young players.

Duncan Watmore

Sunderland academy product Duncan Watmore scored five goals and notched one assist in 29 outings for Millwall before his exit this summer.

Watmore was linked with a move to League One outfit Blackpool earlier in the window, meaning that an immediate return to Championship standard would likely appeal to the 31-year-old winger.

The former Middlesbrough man’s industrious style and versatility would be a benefit to Pedersen’s squad depth, and his efforts last term proved he is still capable of chipping in at Championship level.

• READ MORE: Middlesbrough’s £6.5m summer signing David Strelec faces glaring challenge under Rob Edwards

Connor Wickham

After Sheffield Wednesday lost Josh Windass and Michael Smith this summer, one of the glaring areas of concern for Pedersen regards the Owls’ goalscoring output.

Enter former Sunderland striker Connor Wickham, who featured 17 times for the Owls on loan from Sunderland across two stints, scoring eight in 11 games in a particularly prolific stint in 2013/14.

Wickham has been involved in the PFA free agent squad, and he proved he could still be an exciting signing in the EFL after his long-range wonder goal.

Although the 32-year-old has not registered double figures for goal contributions in a single season in the last ten years, every little helps for the Owls, and his physical profile would be a handful for second tier defences to deal with.