Sheffield Wednesday stance on Aberdeen trialist revealed as Championship chance emerges

Teenager Jack MacIver, who was touted as one of the hottest properties in the Aberdeen academy set up for some years, spent time with Wednesday’s under-23 side towards the back end of last season.

Described as a ‘natural number 10’ who specialises in set pieces, the 18-year-old impressed in a one-off match at Fleetwood Town back in March and was being considered as a possible permanent addition as the Owls look to revamp their senior youth side.

But as things stand it looks unlikely Middlewood Road will be MacIver’s next destination after that interest cooled, with the young Scot now heading to an unnamed Championship outfit for his next opportunity to impress.

MacIver is one of a number of trialists to have been looked over by Neil Thompson and academy staff in the past few months. Another attacking midfielder, soon-to-be-released Blackburn Rovers 20-year-old Sam Durrant, is among the names to have impressed.

A former Liverpool and Everton prospect, Durrant caught the eye by scoring in a late season defeat for Wednesday’s under-23 side at Millwall earlier this month.

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The Owls have announced the release of a number of youngsters including the likes of Declan Thompson, Lewis Farmer and Liam Waldock and are expected to hand further opportunities to the club’s talented under-18 cohort, including Bailey Cadamarteri, Leojo Davidson and Rio Shipston.

It is understood that further youngsters will be invited to train with Wednesday’s younger sides throughout pre-season and that the club have been offered a number of options.

Speaking towards the end of last season, Wednesday first team manager Darren Moore – a manager with a famous grounding in youth development – made clear the signing of free agent youngsters would only be considered if the club saw a clear route to first team football.

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He said: “We’ll take a good look and think about whether we feel they’re good enough to make an impact and see if there’s a pathway to get towards our first team.”