Following Steve Bruce's decision to resign as Sheffield Wednesday boss earlier this week, Chairman Dejphon Chansiri is now searching for a new man to take over the reins at Hillsborough.

With Chris Hughton reportedly turning down an approach from the Owls (via the Daily Mirror), another ex-Championship manager has entered the fray for the current vacancy in South Yorkshire.

According to the Star, Gianfranco Zola has emerged as one of the favourites to take over at Wednesday having been relieved of his duties as Chelsea's assistant manager earlier this summer.

If this is indeed true, it is paramount that Chansiri considers both the positives as well as the negatives that appointing the 53-year-old could have on the Owls' fortunes next season before making a definitive decision.

Keeping this in mind, we have set out two pros and two cons to Wednesday bringing in Zola based on his managerial career to date.

Check them out below...

Pros

He knows exactly what it takes to reach the play-offs in the Championship

After leaving West Ham United in 2010, Zola spent two years away from coaching before taking over at Watford where he enjoyed a successful debut campaign at Vicarage Road, guiding the club to a third-place finish in the Championship.

Although the Hornets would go on to lose in the play-off final to Crystal Palace, Zola rightfully earned the adoration of the club's supporters who were provided with some sensational displays of attacking football.

If he can replicate a similar level of tactical nous whilst in charge of Wednesday next season, there is no reason why he cannot better the 12th place finish that Bruce achieved last season by pushing on towards the top-six in 2020.

He has a track-record of giving academy players a chance to prove themselves

Having helped nurture the careers of Jack Collison, Junior Stanislas and James Tomkins during his time in charge of West Ham, the former Cagliari manager's arrival could be highly beneficial for Wednesday's academy players.

With the likes of Connor Kirby, Liam Shaw and Charles Hagan excelling for the club's youth sides last season, they will be hoping to force their way into contention for a permanent place in the Owls' first-team plans and thus the appointment of Zola may provide a way in for them if the Italian sticks to his previous principles.

Cons

He has never achieved promotion as a manager

When you consider that Zola has never achieved promotion during his managerial career, he may not be the right man for the Owls whose primary goal over the past five years has been to get back into the Premier League.

Although he did come within 90 minutes of doing so in 2013 with Watford, he has failed to repeat anywhere near the same levels of performance in his recent stints in charge of Cagliari, Al-Arabi and Birmingham City and thus bringing him could turn out to be a huge mistake by Chansiri.

He was utterly woeful at Birmingham

Before joining Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea in 2018, Zola suffered an horrendous spell at Birmingham which eventually culminated in him resigning after just 24 games in charge at St Andrew's.

During his time in the West Midlands, he only managed to lead the Blues to two victories as the club slipped down the Championship standings.

Considering just woeful Zola was at Birmingham, it may be wise if Chansiri decided to switch his focus towards a manager who has a better track-record of producing the goods in the second-tier.