Sheffield Wednesday transfer news: Experienced striker joins to lighten the load
Sheffield Wednesday have added experience Football League striker Jerry Yates to their squad ahead of Saturday's game at home to Wrexham.
The Doncaster-born 29-year-old brings much-needed experience to Hillsborough with 380 senior appearances for clubs including Rotherham United and Harrogate Town, and 103 goals.
He joins on loan from Luton Town, where he has scored seven goals in 29 appearances since joining in the summer. He has, though, only started two league games since November, which is why the Hatters have made him available.
The morale-crushing departure of captain and club legend Barry Bannan stripped a young squad of a leader, but Yates has an important job to do at centre-forward too.
Ike Ugbo and Jamal Lowe are two of the more experienced figures in the group, but Lowe has only two league goals this season, Ugbo none. The latter has been linked with loan moves away, whilst there is ongoing interest in 20-year-old striker Bailey Cadamarteri, who has also only scored twice in this season's Championship.
Due to the financial problems which have landed them in administration and with that put them under a transfer embargo, the Owls have to make a case for each signing they want to make on an individual basis. They were permitted to sign Murphy Cooper and Jaden Heskey this month, and although he does not play at left-back, in numbers terms Yates is a replacement for Harry Amass, whose loan from Manchester United has been cancelled.
Whether Bannan's departure for Millwall will allow them to add again before Monday's 7pm transfer deadline remains to be seen, but they are not allowed to pay transfer or loan fees.
To get a player of Yates' quality is therefore no mean feat.
Since making his debut at Rotherham as an 18-year-old, he has carved out a strong reputation.
Yates won promotion to League One with Swindon Town in 2019-20, and to the Championship in the first of three seasons at Blackpool, scoring 23 goals as they went up via the play-offs. His 10 goals on loan at Derby County from Swansea City in 2024-25 were important in keeping the Rams up and earnt his move to Kenilworth Road.
With the Owls doomed to relegation this season, Yates' role this time is more about helping young players through fraught times in South Yorkshire.