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…

Sheffield Wednesday are reportedly keeping tabs on Swindon Town defender Akin Odimayo but face competition from Derby County, Stoke City, and Preston North End.

The 21-year-old has impressed in his first season at Swindon and, according to TEAMtalk, Championship clubs are now circling.

But would he be a good signing for Wednesday? And do they need him?

Our FLW writers share their thoughts...

Alfie Burns

It’s going to be a really interesting summer transfer window at Hillsborough, whatever division Wednesday find themselves playing in next season.

Darren Moore has a lot of players that are going to be out of contract who are high-profile, and they are going to need replacing.

Of course, the temptation is to replace them with experience, but I think a lot of Wednesday fans might prefer to see the Owls go down the route of youth like Odimayo.

He’s a player that’s got strong attributes and plenty of potential.

Personally, I think he’d be a good signing if Wednesday were going to be a League One club, but you wouldn’t like to heap too much pressure on him if they were planning for life in the Championship still.

Having said that, he couldn’t do much worse than the current crop at Hillsborough, so I think it’s a link that can be viewed positively.

Sam Rourke

For a minimal fee, this could represent good long-term business for Wednesday.

There is no denying that Darren Moore needs to reduce the average age of that Owls squad, so signing someone like Odimayo could be a shrewd move.

I've seen the 21-year-old play several times for Swindon and always thought he'd put in solid displays, however there were times where you can tell he's a player still at the start of his journey in professional football.

There are raw tendencies in his play at times and at a club like Wednesday, you can't afford to showcase these sort of things on a regular basis.

We've seen the progression of Ozase at Wednesday this season and Odimayo would hope to emulate his success at Hillsborough.

Odimayo would not be an immediate fix at Wednesday, but someone who can come in, develop and progress and then become a first-team regular in the next year or two.

Ben Wignall

With Wednesday's divisional status for 2021/22 up in the air right now, I feel as though Odimayo would be a decent pick-up for the right price.

Odimayo has proven to be pretty versatile at the Robins, playing at both right-back and centre-back, and if Darren Moore sticks with his three centre-back formation next season, he will definitely need a few more bodies at the back.

This season has been Odimayo's breakout one, having been released from Reading over the summer, and although Swindon have struggled as a team, the 21-year-old has that pedigree from a well-run academy setup and it's allowed him to flourish personally in the third tier.

I don't think it would be a big risk for a team like Wednesday to take a chance on him this summer whatsoever.