Yes, it's that time again ladies and gents and everyone in-between to look back at the transfer business that Sheffield United got up to ahead of (and slightly overlap with) our new campaign in the Premier League. A busy summer was had by United with 10 new players coming through the front door. So, with that in mind, let's start the lookback.
Anis Ben Slimane Age: 22 Position: Midfielder Signed From?: Brondby Previous Clubs: AB, Brondby Country: Tunisia Career Appearances/Goals: 123/11 Honours: Danish Superliga 2020/21 Fee: £1.7 million Our first signing of the summer and one that seemed to further enhance the idea that we would be signing players with a 'low risk, high reward' strategy. Anis had a fairly nomadic youth career, plying his trade for nine teams before making his breakthrough at AB in 2017. A midfielder with an eye for a creative pass, our new Tunisian international looks to provide depth in a midfield unit that has seen a massive overhaul over the summer and for a relatively small fee, to get an international calibre player who played meaningful minutes at the last World Cup seems to be a very smart deal from all involved. Yasser Larouci Age: 22 Position: Left Wing Back Signed From?: Troyes Previous Clubs: Liverpool, Troyes Country: Algeria Career Appearances/Goals: 46/1 Honours; FA Youth Cup 2018/19 Fee: Season Long Loan (With Option To Buy) Another signing that provides us with depth in a position of need, Larouci was highly rated coming out of the Liverpool academy system and appeared to have been offered terms to stay at Anfield when his contract expired in the summer of 2021. Betting on himself however, Larouci instead went to France and Troyes and was a regular during their last two seasons in Ligue 1 with 30 appearances last year as they were relegated to Ligue 2. A France under-21 international, Larouci has had a mixed start to life as a Blade with some decent attacking play and quick feet being evened out by some strange decisions being made on the defensive side of the ball. It's still early days for Yasser, and hopefully with the chance to gel with the team a little more over the international break, this will hopefully give him the chance to settle and start to assert himself within the team. Benie Traore Age: 20 Position: Striker Signed From?: Hacken Previous Clubs: Hacken Country: Ivory Coast Career Appearances/Goals: 45/15 Honours: Allsvensken 2022, Svenska Cupen 2022-23 Fee: £3.9 Million Our first long term story of the summer window was our pursuit of Benie, who had made a superb start to his second full campaign in Swedish top flight football, netting 12 goals in 14 appearances before his eventual transfer to United. During his time in Sweden, Benie had made his first appearance for the Swedish outfit in 2021 at the age of 18 but had his career hit a speedbump somewhat after suffering a leg injury in 2022. Despite the long lay off, as mentioned above, the Ivory Coast under-23 international was in red hot form before he joined us and looks like one who will develop with the squad as opposed to being the next big thing to lead our frontline (more on that signing later). Benie has had a decent start to life in United colours under trying circumstances as we started the season in a state of flux after the late sale of Ndiaye and Berge. Very much one to watch is Benie, looking forward to see him continue to grow into the team as the season progresses! Auston Trusty Age: 25 Position: Defender Signed From?: Arsenal Previous Clubs: Bethlehem Steel, Philadelphia Union, Colorado Rapids, Arsenal, Birmingham City Country: USA Career Appearances/Goals: 201/7 Honours: U.S, Open Cup Runner Up 2018, CONCACAF Under-20 Championship 2017, CONCACAF Nations League 2022-23, Birmingham City Player Of The Year 2022-23 Fee: £5 Million Since the beginning of the 2020-21 season, we have been looking for the elusive long term replacement for Jack O'Connell. Many have been tested there and more than a few have failed. For the first time since that 2019-20 season when we had that settled backline, we have squad depth at the LCB position! Trusty comes to us on the back of a very impressive season with Birmingham where he was the second highest scoring defender in the division (behind our own Anel Ahmedhodzic) and earned their Player of The Season gong. A regular for the United States, Auston takes the coveted no.5 jersey from O'Connell and looks to challenge current LCB incumbent Jack Robinson. After a long time without either a good LCB or a back up for Robinson, it's good to finally see that the club has atoned for it's earlier errors and get a potential long term option tied down to a long deal. Vinicius Souza Age: 24 Position: Midfield Signed From?: Lommel Previous Clubs: Flamengo, Lommel, Mechelen, Espanyol Country: Brazil Career Appearances/Goals: 96/3 Honours: Copa Libertadores 2019, Recopa Sudamericana 2020, Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A 2019, Supercopa do Brasil 2020, Campeonato Carioca 2019/2020 Fee: £10.3 Million About half an hour after we had sold Sander Berge to Burnley, coupled with the still raw feelings over the sale of Ndiaye to Marseille a week before, United needed to get the fans back onside and fast. How did we do that? We signed a Brazilian tank from Belgium. Vini comes to us after a campaign on loan in La Liga with Espanyol. Despite coming in on the back of the Berge signing, he and Vini could not be more different in regards to playing styles. Vini is a disruptor in the middle with an innate ability to get stuck in and make good interceptions. However, he's not just all tackles and running, showing a decent passing range, Souza has already become something of a fan favourite at The Lane with some top performances against Forest and Everton. Vini is the midifeld tank that we've been lacking for a long time, it looks like a shrewd bit of business getting him in on a long time deal. He's less Flamenco and more Brutalisimo and that, is absolutely perfect. Gustavo Hamer Age: 26 Position: Midfield Signed From?: Coventry City Previous Clubs: Feyenoord, Dordrecht, PEC Zwolle, Coventry City Country: Brazil Career Appearances/Goals: 216/27 Honours: Eredivisie 2016-17, Johan Cruijff Shield 2017, Coventry City Player Of The Year 2021-22/2022-23, EFL Championship Player Of The Month April 2023 Fee: £15 Million Despite saying all summer that we had a budget of £20 million all in, United appeared to bluffing because, despite the sale of Sander and Ili both increasing the budget, if you've been keeping count we've now spent around £30 million in the transfer market with the very surprising, but very welcome, signing of Championship stand out midfielder Gus Hamer at midnight the day before we played Palace displaying that we might just mean business this season. Hamer has been superb since making his move from Holland to Coventry in 2020 with dogged performances dovetailed with scoring absolute screamers. Beating off interest from other clubs, United secured the premier talent in the Championship from the last couple of years that instantly improves a midfield that still needs drive and verve. Already chipping in with goals, his debut finish against Forest was *chef's kiss*, Gus and Vini already look to be making a midfield that looked a bit paper thin a hell of a lot stronger. And we've not even finished with the midfielders yet. Tom Davies Age: 25 Position: Midfield Signed From?: Everton Previous Clubs: Everton Country: England Career Appearances/Goals: 155/6 Honours: Toulon Tournament 2018, Everton Young Player Of The Season 2016-17, Everton Goal Of The Season 2016-17, Everton Performance Of The Season 2016-17 Fee: Free The midfield strengthening continued with the free capture of a young player that has made over 150 appearances in the top flight. Tom Davies was once the next big thing coming out of the Everton academy with the boyhood Toffee impressing during his first couple of years in the Prem. Since then, injuries and and general malaise at Goodison have seen Davies' career hit a stumbling block. Despite this however, getting a player as young as Davies is with the top flight experience he has has to be seen as a bit of a coup for United. The talent is clearly there, Hecky and co just need to help Tom rediscover it. Cameron Archer Age: 21 Position: Striker Signed From?: Aston Villa Previous Clubs: Aston Villa, Solihull Moors, Preston North End, Middlesborough Country: England Career Appearances/Goals: 77/23 Honours: UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2023, EFL Trophy Player Of The Round (Round 1) 2021-22, EFL Trophy Top Goal scorer 2021-22 Fee: £18 Million A player we know all about after last season, Cam Archer has been on fire in the Championship since he made his first move to the division with Preston in January 2022. Helping fire Middlesborough to the play-offs with 11 goals in 20 games last year, Archer was the second player of the summer who had a protracted move to Bramall Lane with the deal itself looking like a Nolan film on steroids. However, all that matters at the end of the day is we have our man and our frontline options are bolstered even further. Already linking up well with McBurnie, Archer already is off the mark for United with a well taken goal against Everton. Could he be the man to fire us to safety? We will have to see, the early signs are looking promising indeed... Luke Thomas Age: 21 Position: Left Wing Back Signed From?: Leicester City Previous Clubs: Leicester City Country: England Career Appearances/Goals: 57/1 Honours: FA Cup 2020/21, FA Community Shield 2021, UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2023 Fee: Season-Long Loan After the injuries to Ben Osborn, Max Lowe and the continued absence of Rhys Norrington-Davies, United needed another left wing back to compete with Yasser Larouci on the left of defence and, in unusually quick fashion for United, we got some interesting cover signed up indeed. After breaking through the Leicester ranks in 2020, Thomas became a regular the following season and started in The Foxes FA Cup win against Chelsea in 2021. Also capable of scoring spectacular goals (his goal against Man United in the COVID season is well worth a watch if you can find it) Thomas is young, has Premier League (and big game) experience and offers us good cover at left wing back. He was impressive in his short cameo against Everton, it will be interesting to see if he starts against Tottenham after the international break. James McAtee Age: 20 Position: Attacking Midfield Signed From?: Manchester City Previous Clubs: Manchester City, Sheffield United Country: England Career Appearances/Goals: 40/9 Honours: FA Youth Cup 2019-20, Premier League 2021-22, UEFA Super Cup 2023, Manchester City EDS Players' Player Of The Year 2021-22, Premier League 2 Player Of The Month August 2021, Premier League 2 Player Of The Season 2021-22, Sheffield United Young Player Of The Season 2022-23, EFL Championship Runner Up 2022-23 Fee: Season-Long Loan Finishing off our summer dealings is someone we are very familiar with indeed. After a stellar second half of last season with United, James McAtee re-joined the club on loan for a second campaign! After a tough start to life at The Lane, Macca really came into his own in the second period of last season and was a crucial part in getting us over the line for automatic promotion and getting to the semi final at Wembley. Macca should be able to fill some of the offensive void left by Ndiaye sale and knowing the club should help him settle in very quickly indeed. What a way to finish what was a topsy-turvey summer. There you have it, a busy summer for United that sees us bolster our midfield options more than anything else which has been a need for a couple of years at least. Despite the mass of incomings, there still has to be questions asked of how we went about our recruitment, especially after the last minute sales of Ndiaye and Berge. You can be pleased with who we brought in this summer and also question why the board decided to sell two crucial players a week before our season started. Will the defining story of this summer be who we did sign, or who we sold? Time will tell...
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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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