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FLW's Coventry fan pundit wished that Patrick Bamford's spell training with the club resulted in a permanent move

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Patrick Bamford has finally found a new club, signing with Championship strugglers Sheffield United.

Bamford had been without a club since departing Leeds United in late August, having spent pre-season training away from the first team after he was told by Daniel Farke that he was not part of his plans for the ongoing Premier League campaign.

The 32-year-old has signed a short-term contract at Bramall Lane running until January, but there had been links with other Championship clubs, notably current league leaders Coventry City, after it was revealed that the striker was training with Frank Lampard's side.

These rumours were quickly squashed, with it being revealed that Lampard was doing a favour for the former Chelsea academy product, allowing him to remain fit for when he signs elsewhere.

However, FLW's Coventry fan pundit, Chris Deez, feels that his side should have pursued a move for the two-time Championship winner, believing that he'd be a more useful backup to Haji Wright than Ellis Simms currently is.

Deez was not happy that Coventry didn't offer Bamford a contract themselves, despite Frank Lampard having plenty of attacking quality and depth across his front line.

Ultimately, the fan pundit feels that the 32-year-old would offer more as a backup than the current second-choice striker, Simms, especially if the former Leeds man could remain fit.

"I would every day of the week and twice on a Sunday rather have Bamford on the bench than Simms," Deez said.

"I know he's had his injury issues; they are well documented, and he's hardly played for Leeds the last couple of years.

"But he's a proven Championship goalscorer and has loads of Championship experience. If he can stay fit, which is obviously what he was training with us to do, then he'd be a better option than Simms for the last 20–30 minutes of a game."

Of his six seasons at Elland Road, Bamford was arguably only fully fit for two of them, and he hasn't shown his best work for quite some time now, scoring just 14 league goals in his last four seasons, of which he's played an average of 21 league games per year.

Ultimately, that's the question mark that surrounds Bamford. The 32-year-old hasn't started a Championship game in well over a year, with all 17 of his appearances last season being from the bench.

But Deez believes that a fully fit Bamford is a dangerous striker at this level, and that he can get back to the level he was showing at Middlesbrough and during the early stages of his Leeds career at his new club, Sheffield United.

"It'd be just like us to get a player back to full fitness for him to join a team who, as a fanbase, we don't really like," Deez continued.

"They are going to benefit from having Bamford. People may laugh that they have him and Ings up front now, but Sheffield United won't be in a relegation battle for long.

"Give it three or four months, I don't think they'll be far away from the play-offs, and it'll be down to those signings."

Coventry City don't need Patrick Bamford, but he'd have been a useful option to have

Given Wright's scoring prowess in leading the line at Coventry over the past few seasons, and Brandon Thomas-Asante's ability to step into that role with ease, too, Ellis Simms is a clear squad player currently at The CBS Arena.

The 24-year-old has started just once for the Sky Blues in Championship action this season, and if all goes to plan for Lampard's side on the injury front, he won't be starting much more over the course of the campaign.

The Coventry fan pundit may believe that Bamford is a better option than the former Everton man, but given Simms' age, keeping him as the backup would potentially work out better in the long term.

That being said, there's no doubt that Bamford is a top-level Championship striker when fit.

Even if he isn't scoring goals, the work he does off the ball to create space for his fellow attackers is priceless, and if Sheffield United can bring that out of him, he could prove to be an astute signing for the Blades.

Whether he'll fire them to the play-offs is yet to be seen, and whether Coventry may rue the decision not to pursue him is unlikely, but it'll be interesting to see what impact Bamford has at his new club.