Tyreeq Bakinson from Bristol City to Sheffield Wednesday: Is it a good move? Will he start? What does he offer? | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday have made Bristol City midfielder Tyreeq Bakinson their eighth signing of the summer as they prepare for the 2022/23 League One campaign.

Bakinson has been out of favour at Ashton Gate for some time now and looked likely to move on in the summer window after spending the second half of last term on loan at Ipswich Town.

With his permanent move now confirmed, we’ve examined whether it is a good move, if the 23-year-old will start, and what he will offer the Owls…

Is it a good move?

The jury is out on this one. They’ve certainly signed a player with a lot of talent but after the sour end to his City career, it’s too early to judge how good a move this is for the Yorkshire club.

We don’t yet know the cost of the deal for Wednesday but you’d imagine it will have been fairly cheap given he was out of favour at Ashton Gate and the Robins were keen to get rid of him.

Bakinson was a regular fixture in the Championship in 2020/21 and the first few months of 2021/22, which is proof that he’s can be a quality option at League One level.

With Massimo Luongo and Sam Hutchinson both departing earlier this summer, the 23-year-old’s arrival does help replenish Darren Moore’s depth in the centre of the park but the success of the deal will likely be assessed on his development over the next few seasons.

No, not initially.

Assuming Moore sticks with the 3-5-2 formation that Wednesday had success with in the latter part of last term, you have to think that Barry Bannan, Will Vaulks and George Byers will be the first choice trio while Dennis Adeniran and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru may well be knocking on the door.

When he’s on song, Bakinson is a fantastic asset but he’s a touch unreliable and it would make sense for the Wednesday boss to ease him in to get him up to speed before he considers starting him.

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The club was founded in 1867.

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What does he offer?

As a deeper midfielder, Bakinson is able to pick defence-splitting passes and weighted balls over the top to unleash the attackers ahead of him – the issue is that at Championship level he often struggled to keep focussed and would send shorter passes wide of their target.

He’s capable of using his big frame to protect possession and to win back the ball but breaking up play and defensive positioning is not his strength.

The midfielder is also a decent ball carrier and can be a useful asset arriving late into the box and from set pieces.