The 21-year-old Northern Ireland midfielder made 26 appearances for the Owls in the first half of the campaign, becoming one of the most important players in Danny Rohl’s side, before the Saints used a clause in his loan deal to recall him last week.

Ivan Juric then indicated the former Manchester City player, who made 32 appearances for the Saints as they earned promotion to the Premier League last term, might have a role to play for Southampton over the remainder of the campaign, but there had been much speculation about another loan.

In the last few days, Chris Wilder voiced an interest in signing Charles for Wednesday’s cross-city rivals United, insisting his interest was “not a wind-up”, but Wednesday continued to work on a deal to bring Charles back to the blue half of the city and successfully concluded it on Friday.