Sheffield United wanted to sign a now £60m striker but got Brewster instead

Sheffield United showed in the transfer window that has just slammed shut that they are willing to fork out excessive wads of cash in order to try and win an instant promotion back up to the Premier League.

After all, landing Tom Cannon for £10m would have dented the Bramall Lane bank account significantly, but will be viewed as a risk worth taking to give Chris Wilder’s men somewhat of an edge in the ongoing Championship promotion race.

Those in South Yorkshire will just hope Cannon doesn’t go down as an excessive waste of money if he can’t live up to his previous Stoke City best, with Rhian Brewster a lavish buy in the striker department that certainly hasn’t gone to plan.

Rhian Brewster’s struggles at Sheffield United

If Cannon’s £10m valuation is considered jaw-dropping now, plenty of eyebrows must have been raised when Liverpool youngster Brewster joined the Bramall Lane ranks for a weighty £23.5m in 2020.

The Reds sensation had fired home an impressive 13 strikes in the U21 ranks at the Anfield giants before taking the leap to join Wilder’s camp, but it’s fair to say he hasn’t lived up to his bumper price tag donning a Blades strip.

Frustratingly, Brewster has only managed to find the back of the net seven times across 106 United appearances, with two of those even coming about just this campaign.

But, the 24-year-old has been through the wars when it comes to injury troubles since his statement move took place, resulting in Brewster missing a mammoth 99 games across four seasons just by being in the treatment room.

The ex-England U21 international will just be thankful for the patience his side have shown in him, but there will no doubt be a lot of regrets still that United didn’t use the Brewster cash more wisely to pick up an alternative striker, who the Blades were linked with around the same time the injury-prone number seven joined.

One that got away

The transfers that nearly happened but never did. This article is part of Football FanCast’s One That Got Away series.

The £60m attacker Sheffield United could have signed instead

Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course, with many hopeful that Brewster would kick on and become a great in the United first-team fold after his promising beginnings at Liverpool.

However, that hasn’t come to be, whilst another target around this time in Ollie Watkins has solidified himself as a feared Premier League sharpshooter with Aston Villa.

Reports suggested in August 2020 that United were one of three clubs looking at Watkins before his big £25m move to Villa Park materialised, with Crystal Palace the other outfit allegedly keeping tabs on the-then promising Brentford centre-forward.

For just £2m more than Brewster’s steep £23m valuation, the Blades could have won themselves a far better deal instead of falling victim to a costly blunder, as Watkins continues to go from strength to strength under Unai Emery on some pressurised stages.

At the time of writing, the former Bees man has a bumper 82 goals next to his name donning Villa claret and blue, with all-time Premier League top goalscorer Alan Shearer even going on to laud the 29-year-old as “sensational”.

It has been quite the meteoric rise for the centre forward since his humble days at Brentford, with the 5 foot 11 star now a recognised senior England international off the back of his exploits in the West Midlands, on top of also being valued at £60m amid interest from Arsenal this winter.

Brewster was tipped for similarly lofty heights – having once been labelled as a “natural finisher” by Jurgen Klopp – but the Blades flop will have just tunnel vision at this moment in time surrounding his second-tier employers winning promotion.

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