Shea Charles is due to return to Southampton from Sheffield Wednesday this week after being recalled from his loan spell, but he could be heading back to the Steel City within days if Sheffield United's Chris Wilder gets his way.
According to saintsmarching.com Shea Charles return to Southampton could be fleeting.
Sheffield Wednesday's Chairman made the claim at a fans forum last week that Saints had recalled the midfielder from his season long loan as a tit for tat spat as the Owls had refused Saints permission to speak to Danny Rohl in their quest to replace Russell Martin.
That spat could be doubled if Saints then turn around and loan him back to Sheffield, this time to Wednesday's rivals Sheffield United.
Ex Saints player and now manager at Brammall Lane, Chris Wilder had this to say:
"We’re looking for players of quality and pedigree and he was on the list."
Whether that was a serious quote of just Wilder taking the chance to have a little bit of fun with his local rivals, is unclear.
Many Saints supporters were impressed with Shea Charles last season, especially in the early games, but towards the end he struggled for game time under Russell Martin and it was no surprise that our ex manager felt he was surplus to requirements this season.
So there will be some who will welcome Charles back into our squad, but I am not sure that it would be the right thing to do.
I am an admirer of the midfielder, but I think it might be counter productive to his development to bring him back into a team that is struggling big time and it would do him no favours to become part of a losing team.
We would be better served by sending him out to a good Championship club in or around the promotion places, there he could get games under his belt, hopefully with a winning mentality and return to St Mary's in the summer, fresh and invigorated and more importantly with the games under his belt giving him a confidence that he would not have by a slog in the Premier League and a few good beatings.
So although I think he would definitely improve the centre of our midfield, I don't think it would improve Shea Charles to be here, it is next season that we need him, not the tail end of this season.
On the face of it Sheffield United would be a good fit, but if i was the player himself, I would think twice about crossing from Wednesday to United in such a direct way, whilst it would please the fans of the Blades, it would see the fans of the Owls considering him to be a traitor, he would need to watch where he went in Sheffield.