Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore has suggested that the time was right for Joe Wildsmith and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing to leave the club in the summer.

Both players were out of contract with the Owls during the summer, with the pair ultimately departing Hillsborough on free transfers.

Goalkeeper Wildsmith came through the youth ranks at the Owls, before spending eight years with the senior side, making 89 appearancs in all competitions.

Mendez-Laing meanwhile, had a six-month spell at Wednesday last season, where he scored twice in 19 games.

With the pair both then going on to join Derby County, the duo are set to come up against Moore and his Wednesday side on Saturday afternoon, when the two teams meet at Pride Park.

Now it seems as though the chance to reunite with Wildsmith and Mendez-Laing is something Moore is relishing, even if he feels the time was right for the duo to leave Wednesday in the summer.

Speaking about the prospect of facing those two of his former players this weekend, and what led to their departures from Wednesday, Moore was quoted by Derbyshire Live as saying: "Contract offers have to be right. It's a two-way thing for the club and the player.

"Somewhere along the line that didn't materialise. That's football. If you can't agree and the player is available to go on free, we move on.

"All parties have done that and getting on with the football side. If they are playing, we look forward to seeing them, and if not we wish them well moving forward.

"Mendez-Laing did superbly for me and the team. He's a really good family man. He's solid and he contributed to last season in terms of the positivity.

I am really pleased for him. It's the same with Joe. He was at the club for numerous years. Joe wanted to go and seek first-team football. He's playing and doing really well for them."

The Verdict

These are some interesting comments from Moore with regards to Wildsmith and Mendez-Laing.

Given he is talking about offers needing to be right, it does seem as though there was an interest from Wednesday in retaining the services of the duo this summer.

However, that was something that evidently could not be worked out between the parties, although you could argue that a move to a club such as Derby means that things have worked out well for the pair.

Indeed, with both players becoming important players for the Rams, it will be interesting to see how much of a problem they can cause for Moore and Wednesday on Saturday afternoon.