Barry Bannan is going nowhere, insists Sheffield Wednesday manager

The Scot – out of contract next summer – has been linked with a move to Championship rivals Brentford, who have reportedly seen an offer turned down.

Bannan, who turns 31 in December, is one of the highest earners at Hillsborough and is one of the last few remaining links from the side who agonisingly just missed out on promotion back in 2015-16.

In the view of Monk, Bannan’s value in terms of his playing qualities, influence in the dressing room and his leadership qualities, remains inestimable.

Further testament to that fact arrived when he named the schemer as captain ahead of the new season, with contract talks now on the agenda for Bannan.

Alongside Bannan, who has made over 200 appearances for the Owls since his arrival in 2015, a number of other senior players including former captain Tom Lees, Adam Reach, Kadeem Harris, Jordan Rhodes, Joey Pelupessy and Joost van Aken all see their deals expire next summer.

Monk has spoken with the club hierarchy on that topic and while the situation regarding some players is fluid, he is unequivocal in his view that Bannan is one player who must be retained.

He said: “I have given my view on all of that. The club know and of course, that is a process. You are not able to do that in a day or week or whatever. There has to be a process and we work through it as we go along.

“But of course, specifically talking about Barry, he is a big part of what I want to do here moving forward. I think he is a fantastic player and great professional and I love working with him.

“I think he is a talent and a big part of what I want to do and need in terms of the squad, his leadership and his quality – all that side of it – and we have to be able to keep those players.

“Barry knows that and he knows how I feel and what we want from him in the future. Barry has to be here, that is my view on it. I am pretty sure and very confident that will be sorted moving forward.”

One of those players whose future remains very much up in the air is Dutch defender van Aken, now back at Hillsborough after a season-long loan at German outfit VfL Osnabruck.

The 26-year-old has endured a fraught time in South Yorkshire since joining the club for around £3m from Heerenveen in 2017 – due to a combination of injury and form issues – and made just two starts in 2018-19 before spending last term in the Bundesliga 2.

The Dutchman is the first to admit that he has harboured doubts about whether he could make an impact, chiefly due to spells on the sidelines due to hamstring and ankle injuries.

Mercifully, van Aken, back from his time in Germany, has hinted at a renaissance this season and is a Championship ever-present so far in 2020-21.

Insisting that he never gave up on his Owls career – when some others in his shoes may have done – he commented: “I never gave up mentally about the Sheffield Wednesday part of my career.

“I knew last season, after all the (previous) problems I had that the most important thing was to come back to (playing) professional football again and play as many games as possible.

“Last summer when I was here, I had a feeling that it would not happen at Sheffield Wednesday at that moment and I had to make a decision and I felt I had to go somewhere where I had to start from zero with no history of my injuries.

“I took it as a positive to play games, but it was always in my mind to come back to Sheffield Wednesday and show them what I can do.”

On whether his experiences have toughened him up mentally, he continued: “If you are not playing for one-and-a-half or two-and -a-half years and you always have some problem with a particular part of your body, there comes a point where you doubt the physical side of your body.

“You doubt yourself as well. I have had some really frustrating periods and I took this to my home and girlfriend as well.

“She knows how happy I can be when I play football. I had to take a chance to go somewhere to play and for me, it could have been the last chance of my career.”

Wednesday remain in the market for incoming business as the clock ticks towards today’s 5pm domestic deadline, with Monk keen to bolster his squad.

Cardiff City defender Aden Flint is a loan target, with Bluebirds manager Neil Harris admitting that the former Middlesbrough player is ‘frustrated’ due to a lack of game time.

QPR are also interested in the 31-year-old, who has not started a league game for Cardiff since New Year’s Day.

West Brom forward Kenneth Zohore remains on the Owls’ radar, having been linked with a move to Hillsborough since the summer. Derby’s Jack Marriott, who hails from East Yorkshire, has also been mooted as a loan target.

Former Rotherham United and Birmingham City goalkeeper Lee Camp, 36 – currently a free agent – is training with the Owls squad.

But Monk, who worked with the player in his time at St Andrew’s, has stressed it is purely to allow him to maintain his fitness levels while he tries to find a new club.

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Thank you, James Mitchinson. Editor.