Stockport County have been credited with an interest in Sheffield Wednesday forward Mallik Wilks, who may work as an ideal Louie Barry replacement if a deal for the Aston Villa starlet cannot be reached.
Barry spent the 2023/24 season on loan with the Hatters and, despite a season hampered by injury, made a strong impression at Edgeley Park; so much so that owner Mark Stott wants to put a big dent in the budget to bring him in permanently.
That move, by Stott’s own admission, will be a tricky one to pull off and the recent links to Wilks, as reported by Football Insider, make sense as a ready-made replacement.
A move for Wilks will be no easy path itself though, with Reading and Charlton Athletic both believed to hold an interest.
With just 31 league appearances and one goal throughout the previous two seasons—during which the team was promoted into the Championship—it is reasonable to say that Wilks has not quite clicked for Wednesday.
But previously in his career, the 25-year-old showed he was more than capable of playing in the third division, scoring 19 goals and dishing out eight assists in 44 League One games for Hull City in the 2020–21 campaign.In the 2018–19 third-tier season, he also scored 14 goals and contributed eight assists for Doncaster Rovers. However, in the years since, he has frequently appeared to struggle with the transition to the Championship.
His 2020–21 season highlight reel demonstrates his ability to tote the ball and
Wilks is also perfect for obtaining the width that Hatters manager Dave Challinor frequently needs from his forwards and for the frontline rotations that are another characteristic of the County boss’ team. Wilks has played consistently across the front three throughout his career.
One of the things the County team lacked the most at this time last year was quality dribbling, which was a major factor in Barry’s first transfer to Edgeley Park.One start towards countering this is the recent arrival of Colchester United’s Jayden Fevrier, who finished more dribbles than any other player in League One and League Two last season. If Wilks is available, Barry might be able to offer more details in
That Wilks has playing attributes that are desirable and would address an issue in Challinor’s side is clear, but he may have more to offer the club.
As they enter their first League One season in 14 years, County have a distinct lack of League One experience in their current first-team squad.
Experience-based signings may be hard to come by given Stott’s confirmation that the team is now primarily focused on developing, young players, but Wilks might provide a nice balance of both.
Even at 25, he still has a lot of playing years left in him, and if he were to succeed at Edgeley Park, he might be a valuable addition to the team. However, over his career, he has worked more in League One than any other tier.
Although Fevrier and Jay Mingi, who were both recently signed by County from Colchester, are both potential young players, they have only made 20 appearances in the third division overall, with Mingi making all of them.
Wilks would provide a nice mix of youth and maturity to the Hatters’ transfer strategy without entirely upending it.
Wilks could be more cost-effective in the short-term
Although Stott made it apparent that a permanent transfer for Barry would be viewed as considerably more of an investment than a signing for the forthcoming League One season, the financial impact of the deal would still be significant.
Wilks is probably a far more affordable option if the Hatters are priced out of the Barry deal; nevertheless, it is challenging to determine his exact proportional value because the Owls withheld the forward’s contract duration at the time of his signing.That being said, Barry’s age of just 20 and the uncertainty surrounding his potential ceiling place him in sharp contrast to Wilks in terms of value, as Wilks has recently struggled to make first-team appearances.
The potential battle with relative heavyweights in Charlton and Reading will not help to reduce the cost, but it would still surely be a cut-price compared to Barry.
County’s owner has expressed a strong desire to bring Barry to Edgeley Park, but it will be a difficult deal to close and, in Wilks, the Hatters may well have found an exciting alternative that ticks many of the same boxes.
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