Owls to Swoop on Wrexham Target

Wrexham had hoped to finalise a deal this week with an un-named defender, who has been released by a Championship club, however, The Owls' dramatic League One final play-off win in Cardiff has thrown a spanner in the works.

Wednesday boss Paul Sturrock is looking to strengthen his squad following the promotion success and is looking for Championship experience to bolster his defence.

Russell however has not yet given up hope, with the matter of Wrexham's offer of first-team football possibly proving more beneficial to the youngster than a better financial deal in south Yorkshire.

"Money-wise it might be better for the lad to move to Sheffield Wednesday but in the long run it might not benefit his career," Russell said

"If he goes there it will probably be as a member of the squad and he could find himself on the bench as often as not.

"That's what happened to him at his previous club and the lads just wants to be playing first-team football. At Wrexham we can offer him that.

"To be fair, his agent sees it in much the same sort of light and he's promised us an answer to our offer within the next seven days.

"We've just got to hope the lad sees a move to Wrexham as an opportunity to kick-start his career. By gaining more experience he will have more chance of moving back up the league than if he is simply regarded as a squad number, which is what could happen if he goes to Sheffield."

As a result of their win over Hartlepool in the play-offs which extended their season by a couple weeks, Sturrock, only yesterday announced his retained list and faces a battle to make up for lost time, however, has an advantage of finding more funds in the coffers than orignally thought.

The former Southampton boss said: "We are at least two weeks behind other clubs in terms of looking ahead to next season and ideally I would like to have two players for every position next season.