Sheffield Wednesday have a handful of players who attracted transfer interest in the summer, but who eventually remained at Hillsborough.
And one such name was Will Vaulks.
Reports in the summer claimed that Derby County wanted to sign Vaulks, 30, who’s featured in just eight of Sheffield Wednesday’s 16 Championship games so far this season.
The Welshman was a key performer for the Owls last season but he’s not really been favoured by either Xisco Munoz or Danny Rohl, with Vaulks yet to start under the new boss.
Derby County eyeing midfield additions…
Derby County are having a mixed season in League One. They’re struggling for consistency and they look set to bolster in January in a bid to get their promotion bid well on track.
And DerbyshireLive claimed that one position that the Rams will look to bolster is in midfield.
Journalist Leigh Curtis suggests that Derby will look for a lively and aggressive midfield player and Vaulks could be exactly what they’re after. And given that the Rams are known to have a previous interest in Vaulks, a January move could yet come about.
Former Sheffield Wednesday boss Darren Moore was a huge admirer of Vaulks, previously saying of him:
“He’s got stronger and stronger and he’s driving us on really.”
Moore continued:
“He’s fit, strong and puts demands on everyone and he got the assist against Lincoln and he’ll be big for us in the run-in.”
Should Wednesday and Vaulks part ways?
Vaulks may certainly be frustrated about his lack of football this season; especially after he played such an important role for Sheffield Wednesday last time round.
At 30 years old he’s still got plenty of footballing years left ahead of him and whilst he’ll no doubt want to play at the highest level possible, he knows League One is a level where he can perform and with Derby, game time might be more readily available.
And given the fact that he’s out of contract in the summer and not playing that regularly, it might make sense for Wednesday to offload Vaulks in the winter transfer window as they’ll surely want to free up some resources for new signings.
So for Vaulks, it could be a contested January. Unless he can force his way into the XI, we might see some outside interest emerge and we might see Vaulks pushing for an exit.