Chris Wilder secured Sheffield United transfer insurance with Aston Villa player - he’s forgotten promotion-winner | OneFootball

Scott Hogan signed on for Sheffield United on loan in January 2019 and played sparingly in the Blades' promotion campaign from the Championship

Scott Hogan signed for Sheffield United on loan in January 2019, and played a small role in helping the Blades secure their first promotion to the Premier League in 13 years.

Under Chris Wilder, Sheffield United fired themselves back into the Premier League in 2019 for the first time since 2006, with the likes of Dean Henderson, Ollie Norwood, David McGoldrick, and John Egan all playing crucial roles in those efforts.

Wilder had instilled a 3-5-2 formation at Bramall Lane, with his overlapping centre-backs proving almost impossible to contain, and the Blades would finish in 2nd place, five points behind Daniel Farke's Norwich City in 1st.

Bill Sharp and McGoldrick were more often than not Wilder's preferred pairing in attack, with Sharp netting 23 goals across the campaign and McGoldrick netting 15.

The summer signings of Henderson, Egan, and McGoldrick all proved to be masterstrokes by Wilder, but many will forget their more low-key January addition of Scott Hogan, who signed on loan from Aston Villa to help the Blades secure promotion to the Premier League.

Scott Hogan signed on loan for Sheffield United in January 2019 from Aston Villa

Having signed for Aston Villa in January 2017 for £12 million from West London outfit Brentford on a four-and-a-half year deal, Hogan struggled to get to grips with life at Villa Park.

The Englishman had netted 14 goals and grabbed one assist in the first half of the 2016/17 season for the Bees, prompting a move to Villa, but in two years with the club, Hogan scored just 10 times in 61 appearances across all competitions.

Having fallen out of favour in the first half of the 2018/19 season under Dean Smith, a loan switch to Sheffield United was sanctioned, where it was hoped that Hogan would re-find his form that he produced at Brentford just a couple of seasons prior.

Upon signing with the Blades, head coach Wilder said: "I've made no secret of my admiration for Scott and his abilities, we made enquiries about him in the last window and we've had to be patient.

"He is a player we know a lot about and we are confident that he will be a great addition to what we already have. Options at the top end of the pitch are vitally important and in the situation we find ourselves in, Scott offers us a new dimension.

"Also, Scott had options but he made it clear that he wanted to join us and that goes a long way in my book."

As it transpired, the striker found his game time to be just as limited at Bramall Lane, finding it almost impossible to displace either Billy Sharp or David McGoldrick in the starting 11, whilst Leon Clarke also provided stiff competition.

Hogan made eight appearances in his half-season with Sheffield United, starting just three times, with the rest coming as a substitute, netting just twice without assisting, celebrating promotion with the Blades at the end of the campaign.

His parent club, Villa, also secured promotion to the top-flight, defeating Derby County in the play-off final, but his future did not lie in the Premier League, unfortunately for Hogan.

His spell with Sheffield United is as forgettable as it was short, and the forward is much better remembered for his spells with Brentford and Birmingham.

With Brentford, he made the jump from League Two with Rochdale to the Bees in 2014, and scored 21 times in 34 appearances across all competitions at Griffin Park before his lucrative move to Villa.

After Villa were promoted in 2019, Hogan returned to the club, and had to contend with Wesley Moraes for the main striking spot at the club, but was made available for loan, and promptly snatched up by Nathan Jones' Stoke City.

15 games with two goals and one assist ensued in Staffordshire, and Hogan was recalled and promptly loaned back out to the Championship with Birmingham City for the rest of the season, and would join the Blues permanently in the summer of 2020.

Hogan played the most games for Birmingham out of any club in his career, racking up 158 appearances in all competitions during his time at St Andrews, scoring 36 times and grabbing six assists in that period before his release in 2024.