'A bit old school': What Blackpool can expect from former MK Dons and Sheffield Wednesday loanee

The 20-year-old adds more competition and depth in the wide forward roles and arrives in time for Saturday’s season opener against Reading.

A Canadian international, Corbeanu scored twice in 18 appearances for Sheffield Wednesday last season before joining MK Dons in January, netting once in 17 games.

The winger has already been capped six times by his national side, scoring twice, and will now be hoping to be named in their World Cup squad for this winter’s tournament in Qatar.

Born in Toronto, Corbeanu also represented Romania at youth level.

After leaving Canada in 2018, the pacy winger had an unsuccessful trial with Leicester City before eventually joining Wolves.

He eventually made his first-team debut in 2021, coming off the bench during a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham in the Premier League.

To find out more about Blackpool’s latest recruit, The Gazette spoke with Toby Lock, who covers MK Dons for our sister paper the MK Citizen.

Here’s what he had to say:

What sort of player are Blackpool getting?

Theo is a lively winger - a bit old-school in the sense that he hugs the touchline, wants to be on the ball, running at defenders and causing headaches. His final ball left a bit to be desired during his time at Stadium:MK, but he got into a lot of dangerous positions and got the fans out of their seats.

Do you think he's capable of making the step-up to the Championship?

I think if he's used in the right system then he could be a hit. Neither Sheffield Wednesday nor MK Dons really play a system to fully exploit his skills, with both using wing-backs rather than wingers. Asking him to get back and defend wasn't really a part of his game so I don't think he got the chance to fully show what he was about in League One. From Wolves' point of view, he's better off playing in a system that suits him, and there's no reason he can't make the step to the Championship provided it's in a way that makes best use of him.

Blackpool are going to play 4-3-3 under Michael Appleton, could you see him fitting into that? And does he play on the left or right?

I think if he were to play on the right of the front three, he could make some waves. He's capable of playing on the left-flank too, he caused issues when he switched flanks mid-game but primarily he's a right-sided player.