Sheffield Wednesday set to resist Atlético Talleres interest in Josh Windass – offer rejected ‘in strong terms’

After that interest was revealed by The Star last week, the South American outfit tabled a bid for Windass’ services with a fee understood to be in the region of the £1m Millwall offered Wednesday last summer.

But The Star can now reveal that that offer has been knocked back by the Owls, who are keen to keep hold of their key assets as they build towards an automatic promotion push next season.

Darren Moore is a keen admirer of Windass’ skill set and sees the former Wigan Athletic man as a major part of his plans going forward.

Talleres are managed by Pedro Caixinha, Windass’ former manager at Rangers, who was keen to bring the 28-year-old to Argentina to help turn around a stuttering start to their domestic season.

It remains to be seen whether Talleres – who finished third in the Argentine Primera División last season – go in with a further offer for Windass, who are understood to have wanted a quick resolution to the potential transfer.

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Sources suggest, however, that any bid would have to be substantially higher than the tabled offer to turn Wednesday’s head.

Reports in South America suggest Talleres had spoken with the forward’s representatives and that the club were willing to lay down a sizeable financial package for the player.

Controversially, Caixinha and the club’s President Andrés Fassi have spoken publicly about their interest in Windass in the past week.

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Indeed, Fassi spoke to Argentine outlet Mundo D late last week to confirm the club had tabled an official offer.

Windass was the Owls’ top scorer in 2020/21 season and has 17 goals in his 65 appearances for Wednesday, four of which came in just a handful of appearances last season which was decimated by injury.

The club look set to bolster their attacking options in the coming weeks, with Saido Berahino and Florian Kamberi moving on and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing weighing up options from the Championship.

Over the weekend Moore confirmed the club were already in talks with a handful of targets.