Sheffield Wednesday: Takeover progress and Dejphon Chansiri sale stuck in limbo

Chansiri has admitted he turned down two offers for the club earlier this summer, claiming one was worth £40m, with another £30m from a US-based group.

At the time, the 57-year-old said in a statement: "I repeat that I am willing to sell but the deal must be correct on all fronts."

The valuation Chansiri has put on the Owls is understood to be about £100m, more than two-and-a-half times what he paid when he bought the club from previous owner Milan Mandaric in 2015. Is that figure fair?

With inflation, the £37.5m Chansiri parted with a decade ago would now be worth about £52m, still only around half of what he seems to be demanding to relinquish control now.

"Most EFL clubs are being sold for roughly two or two-and-a-half times their revenue," says football finance expert Kieran Maguire. "In Sheffield Wednesday's case, that puts them in the region of about £40m to £50m.

"When you take into consideration the state of the stadium, and the fact the club doesn't own it, they should be towards the bottom of that scale. The £100m valuation appears to be without merit and has no logical backing."

During Chansiri's time in charge of the club, Wednesday have lost almost £200m. He originally spent heavily as he targeted a return to the Premier League for the first time since 2000, and has regularly turned down significant bids from rival clubs for sought-after players.

But in recent years his spending has receded significantly, and the Owls are far more likely to be playing in League One than the Premier League in the next few years.

The club's financial issues - including late payments to HM Revenue & Customs, a failure to pay transfer fees to other clubs, and delayed salary payments to staff and players - are currently subject to an English Football League (EFL) investigation.

That could lead to a heavy points deduction and contribute to a relegation from the Championship that already seems inevitable, given Wednesday have a much smaller senior squad than other sides in the division and have unable to sign players on permanent contracts because of an EFL embargo.

The fact Chansiri is turning down bids and holding out for a value which appears unrealistic has led some to believe he doesn't really want to sell the club at all.

"I think Chansiri is perhaps being a little naive," Maguire says. "Trying to work out his motives, other than trying to get back as much of his losses as he can, is a bit confusing."

The BBC has made multiple unsuccessful attempts to contact Chansiri and requested an interview with him, which was turned down.

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