Sheffield United have hit gold on £30k-p/w gem

Chris Wilder will be hoping he can add a third promotion to his Sheffield United CV come the end of the Championship season, as the Blades continue to flirt with the idea of being automatically promoted via the top two positions.

Of course, there will be many twists and turns ahead in the race to return to the Premier League with the Blades already aware that no teams in the tricky division can be underestimated, having been handed a 3-0 reality check courtesy of Hull City last time out at Bramall Lane – before bouncing back away to Derby County.

The Blades boss will just be praying all the new signings in through the door click on the way to a heroic return to the top-flight being clinched, with one of his fresh recruits in Tom Cannon putting in an underwhelming showing in that shock Tigers loss.

Cannon’s importance to United

A lot will be expected of the former Stoke City loanee as he becomes more acclimatised to his new surroundings, with his debut handed to him against Hull a matter of days after joining.

Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a great shock that Cannon was a little rusty-looking as he tried to get up to speed with his teammates in the heat of the moment.

Indeed, the hyped-up striker would only touch the ball a slim 20 times across the course of the 90 minutes, with just one shot also registered on target from the attacker who has previously fired home nine league strikes for the Potters.

Everyone associated with the Blades will have to be patient and hope Cannon – who did pick up the assist for Ben Brereton against the Rams – goes on to show off this same ice-cold goalscoring edge in South Yorkshire, with a lot of pressure on his back already to live up to his hefty £10m price tag.

Whilst Cannon attempts to fit in, another Blades first-teamer has adjusted to the Championship this season swimmingly, as a new more forward-thinking role in Wilder’s XI has gone down a treat.

The Blades star who is worth more than Cannon

The player in question here is Gustavo Hamer, who has stood out for Wilder’s men all season long, even when recent conversations have been dominated by frantic transfer talk.

The ex-Coventry City man has picked up a mightily impressive 11 goal contributions from 27 league games, with that amount actually bettering Cannon’s count for the campaign who has ten in contrast.

Hamer could be as key as Cannon, therefore, in United tasting promotion success by the end of the season, with the “beautiful” attacking midfielder – as he was labelled by football journalist Josh Bunting – wanting to get back up to the top-flight having been instantly relegated last campaign when departing the Sky Blues.

On top of that, if the Blades were to cash in on Hamer down the line for whatever reason, United would be able to gain more money for the 27-year-old than they forked out on Cannon, with the £30k-per-week gem worth around the £12.5m region, according to Transfermarkt.

Hamer’s rising transfer value
Date	Transfer value
Now	£12.5m
June 2023	£6.6m
May 2022	£2.5m
June 2021	£1.6m
October 2020	£1.2m
Sourced by Transfermarkt

As can be seen looking at the table above, Hamer was once worth just £1.2m when initially joining the English game, only to now be worth a far more handsome amount.

United will be glad that they gambled on his services when they did, therefore, with a hope their risky move for Cannon pays off too as his £10m value also potentially rises.

Regardless of any comparative values, Wilder will know that both Hamer and Cannon linking up to devastating effect could give them a big edge in the ongoing automatic promotion race.