Sheffield Wednesday are hanging onto their Championship status by a thread, with a midweek defeat to Swansea City leaving the Owls facing the reality of League One.  

Darren Moore has been a good appointment despite that very real threat of relegation, with the former Doncaster Rovers boss picking up a steady stream of results.

Ultimately, it’s been too late in the day to save Wednesday.

There’s room for slight positivity heading into the summer, though, but Moore has to get recruitment right to build towards the future.

That, naturally, means that players are going to be on their way out of Hillsborough in the summer.

We dive into EIGHT here that could be sold or released in the summer…

We start with the goalkeeper in the side at this current time.

Westwood’s contract at Hillsborough is expiring in the summer and despite almost 200 first team appearances for the Owls, it’s probably the right time for him to think about moving on.

The goalkeeper department at Wednesday is quite well stocked, with Joe Wildsmith proving on occasions that he’s more than capable of taking the gloves forward into a new season.

He lacks the experience that Westwood does, but he’s a cheaper option and, moving into the new season, that feels like a compromise that the Owls might have to make.

Lees is another senior player that’s got a decision to make with regard to his contract and the longer it goes on the more you start to wonder whether the centre-back’s time is up at the club.

When Lees first arrived from Leeds United, he was really good and, alongside Glen Loovens, excelled in the heart of defence.

However, performances have began to decline in recent season and both Wednesday and Lees are starting to look like a fresh start might do them both good.

The problem is replacing the experience of Lees, but that wouldn’t be hard to do if Wednesday were a League One club.

Bannan recently signed new contract with the Owls and has committed himself at Hillsborough as he is the club captain.

On the face of things, that’s great news for Wednesday moving into the summer.

However, if they are relegated into League One, surely clubs in the Championship are going to be knocking on the door asking about Wednesday’s best player.

Football League World reported last week that if Wednesday go down and Brentford fail to win promotion, the Bees will be back in for Bannan and looking to sign him.

There’s every chance that both those possibilities might play out, which could open the door for the Scot’s exit.

Continuing the trend of high-profile names on this list, there’s a strong chance that we might see Reach playing elsewhere in 2021/22.

The midfielder has been another good servant at Sheffield Wednesday over the years, showing inconsistency, but ultimately proving to be a player that’s been worth a lot of goals.

This season, Reach has eight goal involvements, but Football League World understand that Wednesday are resigned to losing the left-sided player on a free transfer.

Watford or Cardiff City could be potential destinations for Reach as he embarks on a new challenge after five solid years of service at Hillsborough. 

Rhodes has managed to find some good form in-front of goal this season for Wednesday, striking seven times in 2020/21 and proving to be one of this campaign’s better contributors.

However, like a few of the names that have gone before him, there is no contract beyond the summer for Rhodes.

Football League World understand that, like Reach, Wednesday are resigned to losing Rhodes on a free transfer in the summer.

His destination is unclear, but it feels extremely likely that Huddersfield Town will be in the mix to sign the striker and take him back to the John Smith’s Stadium. 

Urhoghide is a player that’s right at the start of his career and is only 20-years-old.

However, he faces the same uncertainties that a number of other players do heading into the summer.

The defender’s contract situation has seen him attract interest from rival clubs, with some even looking like they will be able to offer Urhoghide a chance to step up into the Premier League.

Despite that, it isn’t certain if the defender will leave and it would be foolish to rule out the possibility of him sticking around at Hillsborough.

There is, though, a lot of uncertainty right now. 

Marriott is only on loan at Wednesday, so might seem a little bit of a cheat inclusion on this list.

However, there’s also plenty of uncertainty surrounding the striker heading into the summer.

He may return to Derby County, his parent-club, he may find a new club or he might even try to make amends of a fairly poor loan spell at Hillsborough by returning.

That last scenario does feel unlikely, though, with Marriott managing just 12 appearances this season and failing to score a goal in the Championship for the Owls.

He needs to find the right club for him in the summer.

Harris has been a fairly inconsistent figure on the wing for Wednesday over the last couple of seasons.

At times, he’s looked an excellent option and a player that Wednesday can really lean on for a positive impact in the final third.

However, at other times games have passed him by and he’s failed to impress.

Shifting between a wing-back role and a full-back role hasn’t helped Harris, who might think that the summer is the right time to move on and look for a new challenge.

That might be the case in particular if Wednesday are heading for League One.