Mellor had talks with Wednesday over a permanent move after he scored 20 goals for the Yorkshire club on a season long loan last season. A fee for the transfer was agreed but Mellor failed to agree personal terms.
The striker is rumoured to be on £10,000 a week at Deepdale with a year remaining on his contract. Half of that wage was payed by Preston during his loan spell last season.
Preston would be willing to sell Mellor to remove him from their wage bill but Mellor appears not to want to move for less than what he is earning at present. Wednesday believe a deal could be done and want Preston to release Mellor from his contract a year early by paying a significant sum to Mellor for the wages he would lose.
It appears that unlike with Paul Hayes where an agreement was reached to pay up a sum of his wages to release him from the club, Phil Brown believes if Wednesday cannot agree personal terms then he is not willing to release a player who could prove very valuable to Preston in League One even if he was allowed to move away for free next summer.