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...

Swansea City are one of a cluster of Championship sides looking to snap up experienced full-back George Friend on a free transfer, as per Football Insider.

Neil Warnock's Middlesbrough are trying to secure a new deal for him but the Swans, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham are all firmly keeping tabs on the situation.

So, would Friend be a good signing for Steve Cooper's Swansea? Do they need him?

The team here at FLW discuss and debate....

Louie Chandler

I think this would be a smart signing for Swansea, if they can get the personal terms right.

Steve Cooper has shown that he has a real knack for getting the best out of young players, but at times last season they seemed to lack that streetwise head in a number of positions.

The second leg of their play-off with Brentford was a prime example of this. The Bees sliced through their defence with ease and you felt it was crying out for someone to marshall the back line.

That being said, Swansea will not want to pay Friend over the odds, and nor should they.

Finances are set to be under the microscope more than ever this season so ensuring that wage spend does not rocket will be crucial.

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George Dagless

Could be.

Swansea have got some good young players and I am sure Steve Cooper will be looking to keep with that in the summer window in the main.

Even so, he needs to keep things balanced and add some experience to his side so I think a look at Friend is absolutely worth it.

He's not going to cost a bomb and has the knowledge and knowhow of getting a side promoted with him doing so with Boro a few years ago.

Whether he'd play every game I don't know but I do think it is worth the Swans' consideration right now.

Alfie Burns

There’s an experienced head missing in the form of Mike van der Hoorn, which Steve Cooper needs to plug, but Friend doesn’t feel the natural fit there.

If you step back and take a look at what Cooper has done with Swansea in the last 12 months, his success hasn’t come with making signings of Friend’s ilk.

He’s coming to the end of his career and is hardly a top-class Championship signing anymore.

I think we will see Cooper strengthen his defence this season, but he will look to be shrewd in the loan market again rather than chasing a free-agent like Friend.

For me, Friend still fits best at Boro.