Neil Mellor believes Jacob Butterfield could be the creative outlet Sheffield Wednesday have been missing

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Butterfield has moved to Sheffield Wednesday on a season-long loan from Derby County.

Neil Mellor (right) in action for Sheffield Wednesday

Neil Mellor has told Sheffield Live TV that new signing Jacob Butterfield could be the creative outlet Sheffield Wednesday have been missing of late.

Wednesday have experienced yet another slow start to a Championship season, taking six points from their opening five fixtures.

And scoring goals is again proving problematic, with the Owls finding the back of the net just four times in the league – despite the embarrassment of striking riches available at Hillsborough.

In the end, Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal chose to sacrifice Sam Winnall, a centre forward, in order to bring in Butterfield, a midfielder, from Derby County.

Jacob Butterfield (left) in action for Derby County

And according to Mellor, who spent a season in Sheffield 6 at the start of the decade, it could prove a shrewd decision.

“I watched him (Butterfield) a few times at Huddersfield,” he told Sheffield Live TV. “He was a player who, with his delivery into the penalty area, it was absolutely exceptional – right foot, left foot. I saw him take corners with both feet and I was thinking, this boy can really create and produce something in the final third.

“But you need players into the penalty area, it’s no good having that quality hanging outside the penalty area. You need players getting forward and trying to get on the end of that sort of quality.

“So if Wednesday can commit more bodies forward into the penalty area, with the ability of Butterfield to produce that telling pass, that delivery into the penalty area then there could be more scoring opportunities, which as we’ve said before Wednesday have kind of lacked. He may be the player to help that.”

Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal

Carvalhal admitted on Friday he was also interested in signing another Derby midfielder, Craig Bryson, but opted for Butterfield after analysing the pair’s credentials.

“We are talking about two very, very good midfielders, it was a surprise that Derby put them out of the team,” the Portuguese told Wednesday’s official Facebook page. “One thing was very important, it was crucial to us, (is that Butterfield plays in) the positions that really we need. Second, he is 27 years old and when we bring him here we said we want an option to buy him, because he can be our player in the future. It’s something we want a lot. It means we think that he can stay in the club.

“I said to the chairman (Dejphon Chansiri) even though I like both, I prefer Jacob. He is perfect for us. I hope Jacob does very well here and we stay with him in the future. I will be very happy if this happens.”

Bradford-born Butterfield began his career up the road from Sheffield at Barnsley, and later had spells at Norwich City, Middlesbrough and Huddersfield Town before his £5 million move to Derby two years ago.