Sheffield Wednesday are looking forward to a new era under David Storch and Arise ownership, although former owner Dejphon Chansiri’s carelessness is still evident in several areas.

Over £8 million has been spent in the last three months upgrading Hillsborough to bring it up to date and in step with other, more contemporary stadiums. The training ground has also received much-needed modifications, and a large number of new players have been signed.

The Owls’ senior squad was destroyed about this time last year. Contracts were allowed to expire, those that remained under contract were breached owing to Chansiri’s late wage payments, and players with any potential sell-on value were paid in.

One of them, Anthony Musaba, is ready to return to the EFL just one year later, signing on loan for Norwich City.

Anthony Musaba was one of many who left Sheffield Wednesday last summer.

There were two significant sales in the exodus at Hillsborough this time last year. Djedi Gassama left for Rangers, but Musaba had previously moved for Turkish club Samsunspor.

The 25-year-old has had a rollercoaster of a year. He didn’t survive long at his new team, thanks to impressive performances in both the Super Lig and the UEFA Conference League. He had six goals and four assists in 22 games across all competitions.

That sparked Fenerbahce’s interest in January, and the club exercised a reputed €6 million release clause to bring him in. He didn’t have as big an impact there, starting 10 of his 17 league games as Sari Kanaryalar finished second, three points behind Galatasaray.

Anthony Musaba is ready to return to the EFL with Norwich City

Musaba appears to be on the move again, only six months after joining Fenerbahce, as Pete O’Rourke reports that Norwich have completed a loan agreement for the 25-year-old, bringing him back to the EFL.

Philippe Clement has been forced to enter the wideman market this summer, following the potential season-ending ACL injury to Canadian winger Ali Ahmed, and Musaba appears to be the answer.

And, while whoever replaces Ahmed, who scored four goals and assisted three in the second half of last season after joining from the Vancouver Whitecaps in January, would have large shoes to fill, Musaba has every chance of doing so, and he has the Canaries supporters’ support.

Before leaving Hillsborough, the 25-year-old was a valuable wide option for Danny Rohl during his two years in South Yorkshire, scoring 10 goals and assisting 11 times in 72 second-tier games.

Anthony Musaba’s Sheffield Wednesday statistics by season (all competitions)

Season

Games

Goals

Assists

In 2023/24, he scored 48 goals, 8 in 2024/25, and 6 in 2024/25. With 15 goals in Turkey last season, he can easily maintain the level needed for Norwich to compete for promotion to the Championship.

Sheffield Wednesday have already seen talents from the 2024/25 campaign prosper elsewhere.

Sheffield Wednesday finished 12th in the Championship a couple of years ago, with a talented group and a good manager in charge. Unfortunately, they also had an owner who showed no genuine interest in taking the team to the next level.

While the Owls are significantly better off currently, they had to sit back last year as they were repeatedly trounced by aged veterans and inexperienced youths, while players from the 2024/25 squad had success elsewhere.

Josh Windass had a career year competing for promotion with Wrexham, Gassama had a successful first season at Rangers, and, to a lesser extent, Michael Smith and Pol Valentin were on fire in the first part of the season at Preston North End.

Then, with the club in administration, they had to witness bright youngster Bailey Cadamarteri leave, as well as club great Barry Bannan, something no one expected to happen – both joined play-off-calibre sides.

So far this summer, Svante Ingelsson has left, as has talented young goalkeeper Pierce Charles, both of whom are part of a QPR group that is optimistic about the season ahead.

Without Dejphon Chansiri, Anthony Musaba could have excelled much more at Sheffield Wednesday.

Musaba appears to be the next ex-Wednesday player from that 2024/25 season to continue his career in the Championship, and if he succeeds with Norwich, he will become even another source of transfer envy owing to the negligence in the closing months of the Chansiri reign.

In another timeline, all of these players who have gone on to play for play-off-chasing teams or ambitious European clubs, including Danny Rohl, who is currently at RB Salzburg, could have been pursuing the play-offs with Sheffield Wednesday.

Instead, the Owls are in the midst of their third League One season in six years.

And, while Wednesday is filled with joy and excitement this season, especially after two wins in a row to start the season, there will always be some ‘what ifs’ about what may have happened if Chansiri had sold up before a mass exodus began last summer.