The departure of Jordan Rhodes will be a relief to Sheffield Wednesday fans.

The Scottish forward joined Norwich on loan and the temptation will be to sign a striker to replace him, but this would be a mistake.

Rhodes never found his footing at Hillsborough. A return of eight goals across 51 league appearances was a miserable return for a striker once seen as a guarantee of 20 goals a season. The reasons for this are numerous. Chief amongst them is the competition for places up front. Jos Luhukay is spoilt for choice, particularly with Sam Winnall returning from loan and Gary Hooper, Fernando Forestieri, and Steven Fletcher returning from injury. He has a preference for playing two strikers up front, but having such a quantity of strikers is excessive.

This array of options is indicative of the bloated nature of Wednesday’s squad. While it provides strength in depth, it is prohibitively expensive to maintain. Forwards, particularly with the experience and reputation that many Wednesday strikers have, cost a shedload. This has led to the need to offload key players. Jack Hunt has already left and more will follow with the spectre of financial fair-play regulations looming large over Hillsborough.

Thus, the departure of Rhodes could be viewed as one of the club’s most important pieces of business this summer. It removes one of the heaviest items from the wage bill as well as keeping the option to cash in on him in full later.

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