Johnson delivers Hammers blow to Wednesday

The 22-year-old Hull City wideman has been in talks with the Elland Road club since the start of the transfer window.

Charlton Athletic, where Stewart has spent the past four months on loan, are also interested but Leeds are confident of concluding a deal in time for the winger to be available for the trip to Hillsborough.

McDermott is also hoping to make another signing with an as yet unnamed player with a Premier League club having held talks with United in recent days.

As for the Owls, they are searching for a centre-half after loanee defender Roger Johnson cut short his stay to join West Ham United.

The 30-year-old, who had been an ever present in the Owls’ defence since joining from Wolves in September, has ended his stay at Hillsborough to join Sam Allardyce’s men.

Johnson could play in tomorrow night’s Capital One Cup semi-final first leg against Manchester City.

His departure is bad news for Wednesday, who must now re-jig their resources ahead of Saturday’s derby meeting with Leeds United.

Rotherham United manager Steve Evans finally got his man yesterday after signing Bournemouth defender Miles Addison on loan – six months after a bid to take the 24-year-old to the New York Stadium fell through.

As former Derby County academy product Addison arrived, Matt Tubbs made the move in the opposite direction after his loan stay in Yorkshire ended early.

Tubbs, who had played under Evans before at Crawley Town, netted just once for the Millers in 21 appearances before returning to Dean Court.

Evans explained: “He has not featured as much as he would have liked.”

A busy day at York City saw Russell Penn join on a permanent deal from Cheltenham Town as Adam Reed returned to Bootham Crescent for a second loan spell.

Penn, a 28-year-old midfielder, was club captain at Cheltenham and will be joined in the squad for Saturday’s trip to bottom club Northampton Town by Reed, who has joined the Minstermen from Burton Albion.

Manager Nigel Worthington, who has extended Ben Davies’s loan stay from Preston North End until the end of the campaign, had hoped to sign Reed last summer after the midfielder helped keep the Yorkshire club in the Football League.

But, after leaving Sunderland, he instead opted for the Brewers.