Another transfer window and another review, despite a truncated pre season this year and despite the fact that the transfer window is still open for domestic transfers I think the time for transfers for Sheffield United may be by and large done. So despite allegedly being skint, we still managed to spend close to £50 million on players including breaking our transfer record for the sixth time in just over a year. Let's see what our 8 new signings are all about.
Ismaila Coulibaly Age: 19 Position: Midfield Previous Clubs: Sarpsborg 08 Career Appearances/Goals: 27/4 Fee (According to transfermarkt): £1.80 million This signing came out of left field a little bit and is a player who probably won't pull on a United shirt until 2023 at the latest. Coulibaly started his career off at Duguwolofila but soon left to join Sarpsborg 08 in Norway's top flight. Making a total of 14 appearances in his first year, it would be the 2019/20 season where Coulibaly would catch the attention of United's scouting team. Once again he made 14 appearances but also manged to bag 4 goals as he helped Sarpsborg to 8th in the Eliteserien. United duly swooped for the Malia international's signature and immediately sent him out on loan to our sister club Beerschot. Definitely one for the future and it will be interesting to see how Coulibaly will develop whilst out in Belgium. Oliver Burke Age: 23 Position: Striker Previous Clubs: Nottingham Forest, Bradford City (loan), RB Leipzig, West Brom, Celtic (loan), Alaves (loan) Career Appearances/Goals: 107/13 Fee: Swap deal for Callum Robinson Honours: Scottish Premiership 2018/19, Scottish Cup 2018/19 At 23 years of age, I think you'll be hard pressed to find a player that's had as an eclectic career as what Oli Burke has had. Starting off as a product of the Nottingham Forest academy, Burke soon forced his way into the starting XI and had a breakthrough year during 2015/16, making 21 appearances over the course of the season and scoring twice. This impressive form caught the eye of upcoming German outfit RB Leipzig who shilled out a reported £13 million which was a record for a fee paid for a Scottish player. Burke was a regular during his first season, making 25 appearances as Leipzig finished a very impressive second during their first season ever campaign in the German top flight. Despite an impressive season, Burke didn't make a league appearances the following season and returned to English football in August 2017 with West Brom paying £15 million for his services, once again breaking the record for a fee paid for a Scottish player. Despite making 16 appearances in his first season, West Brom were relegated from the Premier League and Burke was once again on the move with a loan spell to Celtic where his 4 goals contributed to a league and cup double for The Hoops. Burke was once again out on loan the next season with a stint at Alaves in La Liga. All this lead to signing for United, his sixth club in six years. Despite being branded as lazy and not good enough for West Brom, there has to be a talented player somewhere in Burke, if clubs are paying a combined £28 million for your services you've got to have something about you and hopefully Wilder can help Burke unlock the talent that led to him earning a move to RB Leipzig. Fingers crossed we get to see the best of Burke. Ethan Ampadu Age: 20 Position: Centre Back/Defensive Midfield Previous Clubs: Exeter City, Chelsea, RB Leipzig (loan) Career Appearances/Goals: 40/0 Fee: Loan Honours: Europa League 2018/19 The only thing that disappoints me about the signing of Ethan Ampadu is the fact the he's cut his luscious dreadlocks off. That disappointment aside, this could be a very astute signing for United, starting his career off at Exeter, Ampadu caught the eye of Chelsea and was signed up in 2017. despite not being able to clamp down a starting XI spot in the Chelsea squad, Ampadu is highly thought of at Chelsea and spent the last season on loan at RB Leipzig. He only made 7 appearances for the German outfit but gained praise from many media outlets for his performance against Tottenham in the last 16 of the Champions League. Despite not being a regular at club level, Ampadu has been a regular part of the senior set up in the Wales team where he has made 15 appearances for the Welsh since making his debut in 2017. Wes Foderingham Age: 29 Position: Goalkeeper Previous Clubs: Fulham, Bromley (loan), Crystal Palace, Bromley (loan), Boreham Wood (loan), Histon (loan), Swindon Town, Rangers Career Apperances/Goals: 389/0 Fee: Free Honours: Football League Two 2011/12, Scottish Championship 2015/16, Scottish Challenge Cup 2015/16, PFA Team Of The Year League One 2012/13, Football League Two Golden Glove 2011/12, Football League Two Golden Glove (Monthly) April 2012 Foderingham was actually our first signing of the summer and came to United on the back of a fairly fruitful five year stint north of the border with Rangers where he helped the Scottish club regain it's status in the top flight of Scottish football following it's demotion to the bottom tier of the Scottish pyramid. Foderingham was almost an ever present as Rangers did a League and Cup double in his first season in the Glaswegian blue. He was once again the unanimous first choice the following season as Rangers finished 3rd in their first season back in the top flight since 2011/12. However, appearances in the League have been hard to come by since the end of the 2017/18 season with the two seasons following that season bringing just 6 league appearances. Foderingham bolsters a goalkeeping staff that needed some experience after the loss of Dean Henderson over the summer. He should provide adequate back up to the player who we signed a few weeks after sealing his signature. Aaron Ramsdale Age: 22 Position: Goalkeeper Previous Clubs: Sheffield United, AFC Bournemouth, Chesterfield (loan), AFC Wimbledon (loan) Career Appearances/Goals: 84/0 Fee: £18.45 Million Honours: European Under 19 Championship 2017, Toulon Tournament 2018, AFC Bournemouth Supporter's Player Of The Year 2019/20 After the departure of Dean Henderson after two years of excellent performances on loan, United needed to find a new number 1. After rumblings about a deal for Ugurcan Cakir, we eventually settled on a player who we sold for about a million quid in the January of the year we were eventually promoted to the Championship. It's been said by Wilder in the media that he never really wanted to sell Aaron Ramsdale when he did but his sale to Bournemouth allowed us to buy players who proved crucial in getting us out of League 1. In the years since he left The Lane, Ramsdale has gone on to have impressive spells at both Wimbledon and Bournemouth with our youth product providing performances that eventually helped keep The Wombles in League 1 and earning the supporter's vote for player of the year at The Cherries despite their relegation to the Championship. People were a little bit cautious about the fee that we payed Bournemouth for the player and there will be comparisons to how Rammers does in a Blades shirt compared to his predecessor. But hopefully Rammers will show everyone how good a keeper he can be and that we could have our no.1 for the next decade at least. Max Lowe Age: 23 Position: Left Back Previous Clubs: Derby County, Shrewsbury Town (loan), Aberdeen (loan) Career Appearances/Goals: 107/3 Fee: £3.47 Million Honours: Scottish League Cup Runner Up 2018/19, EFL Trophy Runner Up 2017/18 Part of a double Derby deal (we'll get onto the other player we bought shortly) Max Lowe comes to United on the back of a breakout season at Derby where he established himself as their go to left back after a couple of very fruitful years in the Scottish Premiership with Aberdeen. A versatile performer, Lowe has been capped at every England youth level up to under 20's where he was included in the squad for the 2019 Toulon Tournament. Hopefully Lowe will be able to provide good competition for Enda Stevens this year and hopefully goes on to be our left back of the future. Jayden Bogle Age: 20 Position: Right Back Previous Clubs: Derby County Career Appearances/Goals: 91/3 Fee: £3.47 Million The second part of the double Derby deal, Jayden Bogle is a very exciting prospect who, despite being only 20 years old, has been the first choice Derby right back since the beginning of the 2018/19 season making 40+ appearances for The Rams during his stint. Another player who was picked as part of the 2019 Toulon Tournament squad, Bogle has all the tools to make it in the top flight of English football and could go on to be a very important player in the future for United. Definitely one to watch. Rhian Brewster Age: 20 Position: Striker Previous Clubs: Liverpool, Swansea City (loan) Career Appearances/Goals: 26/11 Fee: £23.4 Million Honours: Champions League 2018/19, Super Cup 2019, FIFA Under 17 World Cup 2017, European Under 17 Championship Runner Up 2017, FIFA Under 17 World Cup Golden Boot 2017, FIFA Under 17 World Cup Bronze Ball 2017 So here he is, our new record signing. A player who hasn't even played a minute of Premier League football, so why have United spent £23 million on him? Well, despite not being able to get into the Liverpool starting XI (that could be due to him competing against players like Divock Origi, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah) Brewster has had a very trophy laden start to his young career. During the 2017 European under 17 championships, Brewster scored three goals in six appearances as England finished as runners up to eventual winners Spain. Brewster then went on to star in England's triumph at the under 17 World Cup where he managed eight goals in the tournament including back to back hat tricks against the USA and Brazil in the quarter and semi finals and bagging England's opening goal in the final against Spain. In the club game, Brewster spent the second half of last season on loan at Swansea City where he helped the Swans late charge for a play off place scoring 11 goals in 22 games. Not bad for a lad that hadn't played adult football until that point. Brewster continued his goalscoring form in pre season for Liverpool with a goal against Stuttgart being followed up by a brace against RB Salzburg which got Liverpool back on level terms after going 2-0 down. So he definitely knows where the goal is, the big question is whether he will be able to produce goals in the Premier League. The fee is big and expectations are high but if there's one thing that Rhian Brewster seems to thrive under, it's pressure. It's another transfer window where United have bought young again with the only signing over the age of 23 being Foderingham. It's perhaps a risky strategy buying young with very little Premier League experience but what it does do is bring down the age of our squad and set us up with potentially quality players who could be with the club for the next 10 years at least. Let's hope that they'll all have a positive impact not only on our future, but on our present. Until next time, 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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