Sheffield Wednesday’s most expensive sales of all time, Djeidi Gassama should have made the list

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There’s something of an exodus in S6 this summer, which got us thinking about Sheffield Wednesday’s most expensive sales of all time; a list that is unlikely to be disturbed any time soon.

With the financial chaos hanging over Sheffield Wednesday right now, player sales are to be expected as Dejphon Chansiri tries to find a way out of the mess they are in.

We’ve already seen a handful of players depart the club this summer, which has left the Sheffield Wednesday squad looking very thin indeed ahead of the new season.

The likes of Josh Windass and Michael Smith have terminated their contracts, but it’s the £2.2m sale of Djeidi Gassama that has angered fans the most, with the measly fee nowhere near his actual value.

If he had been sold for a more fair price, Gassama would no doubt be among this top five for Sheffield Wednesday’s most expensive sales of all time.

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Top five for Sheffield Wednesday’s most expensive sales

5. Majid Bougherra – £3.28m

Speaking of controversial transfers, the departure of Majid Bougherra in 2007 really got Sheffield Wednesday fans angry. The main reason being, the defender had only just signed for the club six months earlier.

Bougherra made the Owls a tidy profit of just under £3m when he joined Charlton, but given the quality he showed in his brief spell at Hillsborough, fans would have much rather kept the player than had the money at the time.

4. Niclas Alexandersson – £3.29m

Wednesday picked up a real gem in the ’90s when they signed Niclas Alexandersson from IFK Goteborg for just under £1m (£953k, to be precise). The Swedish winger made 88 appearances in three years for the Owls, and would eventually go on to rack up over 100 caps for his country.

He also handed Sheffield Wednesday a decent profit when he joined Everton in 2000 for £3.29m, but he struggled at Goodison Park with injuries holding him back.

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3. Emerson Thome – £3.46m

It may be a distant memory now, but Sheffield Wednesday had a great habit of shopping in the foreign market in the 1990s and finding absolute bargains. Emerson Thome was one such bargain, arriving on a free transfer from Benfica.

The defender spent 18 months in Sheffield before joining Chelsea in a bumper £3.46m deal in the winter of 1999. He made 70 appearances for the Owls during his time there, but the Brazilian didn’t last long at Stamford Bridge, departing for Sunderland eight months later, and earning the Blues a profit, too.

2. Lucas Joao – £4.68m

It says a lot about the way Chansiri has operated at Sheffield Wednesday that Lucas Joao is the only transfer on this list that falls under his tenure. Most clubs see their biggest sales come in the modern era, but that’s not the case for the Owls at all, with many suggesting Chansiri has failed when it comes to selling players for the right price.

To be fair, though, the £4.68m received for Lucas Joao back in 2019 wasn’t bad business at all. He had scored 29 goals in 127 games for Wednesday before joining Reading; not bad, but hardly worthy of a near-£5m price tag.

1. Darko Kovacevic – £6.93m

You have to go all the way back to 1996 for Sheffield Wednesday’s most expensive sale, which is mind-blowing, really. The Owls signed Darko Kovacevic from Serbian side Red Star for around £4.5m in December 1995, but then moved him on seven months later, making a profit with a £6.93m sale.

Not bad business, considering the big striker had played just 17 times and scored four goals during his time in England.