Sheffield Wednesday confirmed that six players would leave the club at the end of their contracts this month.
Tyreeq Bakinson, Ciaran Brennan, Juan Delgado, George Byers, Lee Gregory and Reece James were all made available for free transfers, with the latter two already finding new homes in League One.
While the former four are still without a club, it is Byers who has already attracted plenty of interest ahead of his contract expiry at the end of June.
Sheffield Wednesday came under some criticism when they allowed the midfielder to leave on loan in January, before going onto impress in the second half of the campaign with Blackpool.
Byers was then released after making 78 appearances for the Owls, and it wasn’t long before The Star reported that he had caught the eye of League One clubs such as Huddersfield, Rotherham, Bolton and Barnsley.
With the 28-year-old now in the final weeks of his stay at Hillsborough, it looks like his next destination may now have been decided.
George Byers is now ‘in discussions’ with Blackpool
Speaking at a Blackpool fan forum (as per Blackpool Gazette), the Seasiders’ sporting director David Downes admitted that the club are ‘in discussions’ with Byers.
He said: “It’s difficult to speak about individual players. I’ve signed George Byers twice – once for Sheffield Wednesday and once here, so naturally I know his agent very well so we are in discussions.
“”He will have a lot of options, he’s a good player. He’s a free transfer so he’s probably easier to speak about. In terms of recruitment, we’ve done a lot of planning so we’re in the execution phase and trying to get one or two over the line.”
Byers started 14 of the 17 games he was available for after joining Blackpool at the start of the year, helping them to eight wins.
Are Sheffield Wednesday right to release him?
The midfielder was an ‘important‘ player during his time at Wednesday in League One, but it is now understandable why he has been let go.
The frustration over his January departure was mainly due to the lack of squad depth under Wednesday, which is actually even worse now.
However, Danny Rohl has made his intentions clear this summer and already looks set to make his third signing this week.
The German coach will be looking at players a level up from what Byers was able to bring to the team, and if he can get the balance between quality and quantity right, then the Owls should do just fine.
Meanwhile, Byers will surely have a good chance at winning another promotion after the Seasiders missed out on the play-offs by three points last term.
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