Boyd joins the Hillsborough ex-Clarets
It’s becoming an annual event, a Burnley player moving on to Sheffield Wednesday, and this year’s offering is George Boyd who has signed what is believed to be a two year contract with the Owls after turning down an offer from Burnley to remain in the Premier League.
He joins three other former Burnley players and two former Turf Moor team mates at Hillsborough. Two years ago, Ross Wallace made the move from Burnley having been released at the end of our relegation season, and last year he was followed by David Jones who signed for Wednesday three days after lining up for us on the opening day of the season. Also at Hillsborough is Steven Fletcher, once our record signing and having been at Sheffield Wednesday for a year after leaving Sunderland.
Boyd goes after three years with the Clarets. He joined us from Hull on the final day of the 2014 summer transfer window for a fee believed to be around £3 million and, because of an injury to Matt Taylor, he went straight into the team for the next game at Crystal Palace, making a debut against the team he supports.
He went on to start every subsequent Premier League game in that 2014/15 season in which he scored five goals and won the player of the year award. He never lost that regular place in the team. During the 2015/16 season he started 42 of the 46 league games, coming on as a substitute in the other two. Injury ruled him out of the 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest as it did when we beat Bristol City at home 4-0. The two substitute appearances followed that game.
Even last season, with added competition from Johann Berg Gudmundsson and then Robbie Brady, he missed only two games, the home game against Everton and the final day defeat against West Ham. Of the others, all but three were starts.
Given that record, with only seven players making more Burnley league appearances for Sean Dyche, it was a surprise to hear that he was looking to move on at the end of his contract. It seems he wanted a better deal from Burnley than the one on offer which was reported as being for one year with a further year’s option.
For some time now it has been clear he saw his future elsewhere and that future is at Sheffield Wednesday alongside Fletcher, Jones and Wallace.
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