Once again, the mid season transfer window has come and gone. A relatively quiet month for United saw only three players come through the Bramall Lane doors and a lot more leaving as Chris Wilder looks to continue our push for promotion. Anyway, enough build up let's profile those three players in the longest running consistent feature on this blog.
Kieran Dowell Signed From: Everton Permanent or Temporary?: On loan until the end of the season Former Clubs: Everton, Nottingham Forest Career Appearances/Goals: 48/10 Our first business of the window wasn't actually completed in January. Instead the signing of Dowell from Everton was announced during the final week of December 2018. Dowell comes to United with a good pedigree having come through the esteemed Everton academy that has produced players like Wayne Rooney, John Lundstram and best of all, Jose Baxter. Joking aside, Dowell is highly thought of at Everton with the youngster already having played a couple of Premier League games and has also played a game in European competition for The Toffees. Having spent last year on loan at fellow Championship club Nottingham Forest, Dowell is less of a punt in the dark than what Ben Woodburn was at the start of the season. Already showing glimpses of his potential in his early appearances. the England under 23 international will be useful cover and competition for Mark Duffy as the season wears on. Gary Madine Signed From: Cardiff City Permanent or Temporary?: On loan until the end of the season Former Clubs: Carlisle United, Rochdale, Coventry City, Chesterfield, Sheffield Wednesday, Blackpool, Bolton Wanderers, Cardiff City Career Appearances/Goals: 374/85 Gary Madine playing for Sheffield United is something that never seemed like it would ever happen. After playing for our dearest neighbours across the city and getting in trouble with local police along with a video coming out of him verbally abusing our captain. It seemed that no matter what, Gary Madine wouldn't play for Sheffield United. So, imagine myself and a lot of other Unitedities shock when it came out that we were looking at taking big Gazza on loan from Cardiff. A lot of people rubbished it as just journalists looking to cause a bit of a stir. "Surely not?" But then it happened. Gary Madine signed for Sheffield United. Even now about a month after he signed that's a strange thing to write and see but when you think about the type of player Madine is, it begins to make a bit more sense as to why we signed him. Billy and Dave have been doing an absolutely superb job leading the line for us this season and long may that continue but when you looked at our options off the bench to shake things up a bit late on in the match, there wasn't a lot there that was any different to what we had starting the match. We had Leon (best of luck Leon at Wigan by the way, hopefully you find that form that made you s unplayable last season) who hasn't been as good as he was last season and isn't your typical 'big man' centre forward. Conor Washington has a bit of pace to get in behind defenders but hasn't really set the world alight yet with his performances. Gary Madine offers something drastically different. He's a big lad who'll be able to get stuck into defenders and challenge them aerially as well as having a pretty good first touch as well as a bit of pace. He's like a younger, taller Leon and I think that most defences will struggle to defend against a 6ft 4in well built striker. So although he has done questionable things in the past. That's all done now and as long as he helps us get promotion, then that's fine by me. Scott Hogan Signed From: Aston Villa Permanent or Temporary?: On loan until the end of the season Former Clubs: Woodley Sports, F.C. Halifax Town, Mossley, Stocksbridge Park Steels, Ashton United, Hyde, Rochdale, Brentford, Aston Villa Career Appearances/Goals: 225/90 A deadline day signing but not a surprising one, Hogan was rumoured to be joining in the summer but an unwilling Steve Bruce put the move on hold until January with Hogan joining to beef up our options upfront. After starting his life in non league, Hogan finally got his break at Rochdale in 2013 and took League Two by storm scoring 17 goals in 33 league games and totalling 19 over 40 games. a move to Brentford followed and his goalscoring exploits didn't stop there with his breakout season coming in the first half of the 2016-17 season where he scored 14 goals in 25 league games. A mid season move for around the 9 - 12 million pound mark to Aston Villa looked like it would be the fairy tale story for the man who, four years previously, been plying his trade in the Conference but, Hogan got injured. His career at Villa became very stop start leading to only 10 goals in 60 games. Although out of favour, when United came calling in the summer, Steve Bruce was unwilling to let Hogan leave but he's here now and that's all that matters. Hogan is more of a fox in the box type of striker and is like Billy Sharp in many ways with him seeming to know where the ball will fall before it has even been played. If Wilder can get Hogan back to his Brentford and Rochdale days, we could have a striker on our hands who could be a very dangerous weapon indeed. Overall, I think this window has been fairly impressive. Not only have we stocked up in areas we needed cover in but we've added genuine quality in those areas. we've got two players who over the past few years have been sold for a combined fee of around £18 million and we've got a youth prospect who is highly thought of at his parent club and who is battle tested at this level. In this race for promotion, I hope all three signings help us over the line as we look towards a potential first season back in the top flight for over a decade. As ever, UTB.
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AuthorHi my name is John and i will be giving my thoughts on the blades matches and all blades related news in this section Archives
November 2022
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