Sheffield Wednesday created a cult hero after 2013 free transfer: View | OneFootball

Few Sheffield Wednesday fans knew what to expect when striker Atdhe Nuhiu arrived at the club in 2013.

The 6'5 frontman had arrived from Turkish side Eskisehirspor, having scored just twice the previous season. But he took to English football quickly, with his physicality proving a real problem for defenders.

Over the course of six seasons, Nuhiu would become a cult hero in South Yorkshire, making over 250 appearances and scoring 50 goals.

During his first few years at the club, Wednesday pushed for promotion to the Premier League, making the play-off final in 2016.

Nuhiu was an ever-present fixture in the side during this time, providing goals but also bringing others into play with his ability to hold the ball up.

Imperious in the air but also nimble with his feet, Nuhiu was more than a talisman up top, and he contributed to some of Wednesday's best moments in the modern era, including two runs to the Championship play-offs.

He left the club in 2019, a year before they were relegated to League One and, at 34 years old, he's plying his trade in the Austrian Bundesliga with SCR Altach.

Nuhiu fires Sheffield Wednesday upwards

Wednesday had finished just three points above the relegation zone the season before Nuhiu arrived, but powered by his goals, the Owls progressed up the Championship table year-on-year before reaching the play-off final in 2016, where they lost to Hull City.

Nuhiu finished as Wednesday's top scorer in the league in his first two seasons at the club, helping them finish 16th and 13th respectively.

The arrivals of Fernando Forestieri, Lucas Joao, and Gary Hooper saw Nuhiu's game time limited during the 2015-16 season. But he provided invaluable support for his teammates, notching eight assists as Wednesday finished sixth.

Nuhiu's influence helped drag a beleaguered Wednesday side away from relegation and towards the play-offs. His sheer presence then allowed Forestieri, Joao, and Hooper to flourish around him as he selflessly took on a supporting role within the team.

It felt like Nuhiu's days were numbered with the wealth of attacking talent on show at Wednesday during the mid to late 2010s.

But after making just 20 appearances in the 2016-17 season and enduring three months out of the team in the following campaign, he returned with a point to prove in the final months of the 2017-18 season and netted nine goals in the last nine games, including a hat-trick on the final day against Norwich City and goals against Leeds United in a memorable win at Elland Road.

Whilst Wednesday spent lavishly in their attempts to add more goals to the team, Nuhiu remained loyal to the club despite a lack of game time and, even in his final years, could perform when called upon.

Nuhiu's loyalty and eye for a goal, especially against Yorkshire rivals Leeds,whom he scored against four times in the end, means he's remembered fondly at Hillsborough, and after netting his 50th goal in a 5-3 defeat to Fulham, he became just the second player in the 21st century to score 50+ goals for Sheffield Wednesday.

Quite the achievement given so little was expected of the transfer when it was first completed.