Sheffield Wednesday have been dealt a major blow in their bid to keep Barry Bannan at Hillsborough this summer.

What's the talk?

That's according to a report by Football League World, who claim that the Premier League trio of Burnley, Crystal Palace and Watford are all monitoring the situation of the Owls midfielder ahead of a potential swoop in what remains of the summer transfer window.

In comments made earlier this month, the 31-year-old stated his belief that he would still be a Wednesday player beyond transfer deadline day, as well as claiming that he wants to help get the club back to the Championship this season.

Moore will be gutted

While Bannan's comments about his future may well have been sincere, considering the Scotland international's age, should a Premier League side firm up their interest in the midfielder with an acceptable offer, it is an extremely difficult scenario to imagine that the 31-year-old would turn down the opportunity to play top flight football.

And, should one of Burnley, Palace or Watford ultimately secure a deal for Bannan, it would undoubtedly leave Darren Moore gutted, as the former Aston Villa man is quite clearly a very important part of the 47-year-old's Owls side.

Indeed, over his three League One appearances so far this season, the £1.6m-rated club captain has scored one goal, as well as taking an average of 2.3 shots and making one key pass per game.

These returns have seen the man Moore dubbed an "important" player earn a highly impressive average SofaScore match rating of 7.43, ranking him as Wednesday's second-best performer in the third tier of English football.

Furthermore, Pep Guardiola's glowing endorsement of the Scottish maestro highlights just how much quality he possesses. After the Owls met Man City in the FA Cup in 2019/20, the Spaniard described him as an "incredible player."

As such, it is clear that losing the services of Bannan would come as a huge blow to the former West Bromwich Albion and Doncaster Rovers manager, who will undoubtedly be keeping his fingers crossed that none of the interested parties come forward with a decent offer for the £27k-per-week midfielder in the coming days.

In other news: Fewer touches than Peacock-Farrell: Owls dud who lost 77% of his duels badly betrayed Moore