Sheffield Wednesday land Elias Kachunga and close in on Josh Windass as they revamp their forward line

It has been clear for a long time that Windass and Wednesday wanted to make the Wigan Athletic player's stay permanent, but the free transfer arrival of Congolese international Kachunga was unexpected.

The German-raised forward moved to Yorkshire under then-Terriers manager David Wagner in 2016 having previously played for Borussia Moenchengladbach, Paderborn and Ingolstadt.

Kachunga scored 13 goals during a season-long loan in which he helped Huddersfield into the Premier League, and was rewarded with a permanent deal. In all he made 117 league appearances for the club, adding four more goals after his £1.1m permanent move.

With Huddersfield cutting their cloth after relegation from the Premier League in 2018-19, Kachunga was released at the end of last season, although the 28-year-old did extend his contract to see it out.

Kachunga's pace was largely used out wide at Huddersfield, but he is also adept down the middle. He has signed a one-year contract at Hillsborough.

"I will try to help the team with my passion and my work-rate," he promised. "Hopefully everything else will come from that."

The Owls are in the rebuilding phase of what Kachunga called "a good project", reining in spending after gambling on promotion in recent seasons without achieving it. They will start the 2020-21 Championship on minus 12 points after a financial fair play transgression.

They lost most of their attacking options at the end of last season when Fernando Forestieri and top-scorer Steven Fletcher rejected new contracts, Sam Winnall and Atdhe Nuhiu were released and Windass, Alessio Da Cruz and Connor Wickham's loans came to an end. It left Jordan Rhodes as the only senior striker.

Of their three previous signings this summer, Chey Dunkley is a central defender and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Izzy Brown are midfielders.

Windass, son of Hull City legend Dean, scored three goals in nine appearances - six from the start - after moving across the Pennines in January. But the Owls will need further attacking reinforcements, particularly if they continue with the 3-5-2 formation manager Garry Monk favoured in the resumption of last season.

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James Mitchinson