This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...
Sheffield Wednesday confirmed the signing of Will Vaulks from Cardiff City this week.
FLW’s fan pundit for the Owls James Mappin has claimed that the 28-year old will be a great addition to the side.
Manager Darren Moore is hoping to make his team competitive enough to earn promotion from League One to the Championship this season.
The Wednesday fan believes that Vaulks can fit right in with that objective and that he will make for a great replacement for the departed Massimo Luongo.
Mappin sees the quality in the Welsh international’s game that he believes can raise the standard at Hillsborough for the next campaign.
Vaulks has impressed in the third division in the past, helping Rotherham gain promotion in 2018.
His performances for the Shrimps earned him a move to Cardiff, where he scored 11 league goals in three seasons.
“Will Vaulks is an absolutely quality signing,” Mappin told Football League World.
“You look at the amount of games that he’s playing, the level he’s played at as well, that’s up to having quality at League One and he’s got that.
“Down at Rotherham a few seasons ago he got promoted with them.
“One thing, we’ve obviously not got Massimo Luongo but it’s clear that we’ve already worked on getting a replacement for him in Vaulks.
“I don’t think they’re like for like, they are two different players, but you look at the quality that they are losing in Luongo, Vaulks more than makes up for it.
“And one thing he does have that Luongo didn’t do is getting the goals.
“Especially from long range when games are tight, sometimes you need that little spark and to add that to George Byers has that about him, goals are going to be coming from everywhere this season.”
Vaulks is Wednesday’s third addition of the summer, arriving after Ben Heneghan and David Stockdale.
Moore’s side fell just short of promotion last season, losing their play-off semi-final to Sunderland.
The Verdict
Wednesday needed to add some extra quality to their side this summer given those who have left.
Vaulks is a great example of the kind of player that the team needs, and he is a proven League One standard player.
More work still needs to be done to improve the first team squad, but the right steps are being taken to ensure Wednesday are competitive over the next 12 months.
These are positive steps and Mappin’s excitement shows the expectation that the team now needs to deliver on over the season.