This article is part of Football League World's 'The Verdict' series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Austria Wien are interested in signing Stoke City defender Kevin Wimmer on loan, according to the Stoke Sentinel.

Wimmer joined the Potters from Tottenham Hotspur in 2017, joining the Potters for a reported fee of £18m, but he has since failed to live up to expectations.

After spending last season on loan with Hannover 96 and this season on loan with Royal Excel Mouscron, Austria Wien are now understood to be interested in signing the Austrian centre-half.

Here, the FLW team discuss this potential departure...

George Harbey

I don't see the point in this - why not get rid of him for good?

It's clear that he isn't going to play under O'Neill having completely failed to make an impression so far, and with another two years still left on his deal, they should look to sell him and get some kind of fee for him.

Wimmer should be desperate to move away for good and start afresh, but a loan move means that he's always tied down by Stoke, which doesn't make sense to me.

He will want to move away for good and so will Stoke, with O'Neill undoubtedly looking to trim his squad and relieve pressure on the huge wage bill at the bet365.

Any sort of fee is better than nothing.

Sam Rourke

In an ideal world, Stoke would want to get rid of Wimmer on a permanent deal, surely?

The player has been a real flop at Stoke, and has struggled to live up to his hefty £18m price-tag that the Potters forked out for him from Spurs.

There has to be a reason why Wimmer has not been utilised under the various managers that have been at the helm at Stoke, with him being shipped out on loan in the last two seasons.

It's been a dramatic demise for Wimmer, who as the age of 27, will surely be keen to find a permanent home where he can re-build and rejuvenate his career.

A permanent deal should be what Stoke look for here, but in the current climate, I struggle to see who would want to fork out to sign the centre-back.

So in truth, a loan move is the best Stoke may get here.

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Ned Holmes

Yes, I think so.

Wimmer has spent the last few seasons away from the Potters and this seems like an ideal opportunity to offload him.

Finances are likely to be tight in the upcoming window but this move should provide them with some additional flexibility.

Stoke have got some good options in the likes of Shawcross, Lindsay, Collins and Martins Indi, and given his absence over the past few seasons Wimmer won't be missed.

He hasn't seemed part of their plans for a while now. Time for them to offload him permanently.

Alfie Burns

A lot has changed at Stoke in the last couple of seasons and it feels like the right time for the club to be starting to move out players like Wimmer.

Michael O’Neill has a job on his hands keeping Stoke in the Championship this season and it will be a task for him to build things back up again after a woeful couple of summer windows.

Offloading players of Wimmer’s ilk is going to be a priority this summer and I expect that he, along with a number of others, will be on their way out of Stoke when the summer transfer window eventually comes around.

Now is the time for O’Neill to be bullish. He needs to trim his squad and get a core group of players together ready to battle in the Championship.