Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit urges against Burnley deal

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 will be playing second tier football again next season, following promotion via the play-offs in League One.

The Owls will still be celebrating their return to the Championship, which was sealed thanks to a dramatic late winner from Josh Windass against Barnsley.

However, work for the recruitment team has already begun, with a host of players set to depart later this month as their deals expire at Hillsborough.

Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper situation

One of those is David Stockdale, who has left to sign for York City, so bringing in a new goalkeeper to compete with Cameron Dawson is seen as a priority for Darren Moore and co. this summer.

It has been suggested that Wednesday are interested in Burnley stopper Bailey Peacock-Farrell, along with Ipswich Town’s Vaclav Hladky, to address that position.

The 37-cap Northern Ireland international is struggling for game time at Turf Moor, and their promotion to the top-flight won’t help on that front, either.

The 26-year-old spent the 2021/22 season with Sheffield Wednesday, where he made 47 appearances, which is more than he has played for any other club.

Should Sheffield Wednesday sign Bailey Peacock-Farrell from Burnley again?

FLW’s Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit Callum believes Dawson should remain as the club’s first-choice, which means any move for Peacock-Farrell makes little sense, he said: “I don’t really think we need him, Bailey Peacock-Farrell. I don’t think it would be fair on Dawson really, to be honest.

“You bring someone in like that and someone’s going to be unhappy, and if it’s a loan for Peacock-Farrell you would suspect that they would want him to be the number-one.

“I don’t really think that’s fair on Cam after the season he’s had really. I think he’s proved himself and he deserves that number-one shirt for as long as he can keep it for and I don’t think he’s done much wrong in the past season.

“He’s had two really good seasons where he’s been promoted: League Two to League One, League One to the Championship. I think those experiences have done him really well.

“That loan move to Exeter was perfect. Cam’s always been a good ‘keeper.

“Peacock-Farrell back? If we didn’t have Cam, I’d say yes. But we need a number-two who knows he’s going to be number-two. I don’t think we need two ‘keepers competing with each other really.

“But then you need that competitiveness to keep your number-one on point. We saw that last season with Stockdale, where he kept 11 clean sheets but for the second-half of the season didn’t play.”

Should Wednesday sign Peacock-Farrell?

He was serviceable for them in League One, but the Championship is a big step-up. Peacock-Farrell may wish to be a number-one as well.

Wednesday either need to commit to Dawson as the first-choice for next season and sign someone who would be content as the back-up option, or need to sign an established ‘keeper who would be an obvious upgrade to come in as number-one.

Peacock-Farrell is somewhere in the middle, where both he and Dawson likely want to be Moore’s first pick between the sticks.