Sheffield United must rue £23.5m transfer mistake along with these 4 others | OneFootball

Football League World looks at five unsuccessful transfers Sheffield United have made over the years

Sheffield United have endured several ups and downs in recent years, and were particularly proud to finish ninth in the Premier League at the end of the 2019/20 campaign, having won promotion to the top-flight at the end of the previous season.

However, the Blades were relegated from the Premier League by 2021, and have subsequently bounced between the top two tiers of the English game.

Over the years, the South Yorkshire outfit have also enjoyed their fair share of successful signings, such as striker Billy Sharp, who re-joined the club in 2015, and proved himself as a prolific goalscorer in both League One and the Championship, before also plying his trade for the club in the top-flight.

However, the Blades have also acquired some significantly less successful players than Sharp over the years, and Football League World takes a look at five mistakes the Bramall Lane side have made in the transfer market:

Rhian Brewster

The Blades signed former Liverpool youngster Rhian Brewster from the Reds in a deal worth £23.5m back in October 2020, and he arrived with the reputation of being a promising youngster who won the Under-17 World Cup with England back in 2017, and also scored 11 goals in 22 Championship appearances during a 2019/20 loan spell with Swansea City.

However, the former England youth international failed to score a single goal during the 2020/21 Premier League campaign, despite making 27 top-flight outings as the South Yorkshire outfit suffered relegation.

While Brewster is still with the Blades, he has never proven himself as a regular goalscorer in either the Premier League or the Championship, and the club must regret the hefty transfer fee they spent on his largely unsatisfactory services.

Oliver Burke

Another forward who struggled to find the back of the net while plying his trade at Bramall Lane is former West Bromwich Albion man Oliver Burke.

The Blades signed Burke from the Baggies in a 2020 swap deal, which saw Callum Robinson trade South Yorkshire for the West Midlands.

It would be fair to say that West Brom got the better side of the deal, as Robinson went on to score five Premier League goals during the 2020/21 season, before notching seven goals and nine assists during the 2021/22 Championship campaign.

On the other hand, Burke scored just two goals in 36 appearances, during an underwhelming spell in South Yorkshire, before he went on loan to Millwall in January 2022.

Lyle Taylor

Lyle Taylor has established a strong reputation as a dangerous EFL goalscorer, courtesy of successful spells with the likes of Wimbledon and Charlton Athletic over the years.

The Blades acquired his services, when they were a League One side, during the summer of 2013, and would have been impressed by the fact that he scored 24 goals in 34 Scottish Championship appearances for Falkirk during the 2012/13 season.

However, the Montserrat international managed just two goals in 20 third tier outings for the Blades, and would not ply his trade for the South Yorkshire side again following a loan spell with Partick Thistle which began in January 2014.

Jack Rodwell

Former England international Jack Rodwell displayed plenty of promise during the early stages of his career with Everton, but enjoyed somewhat less successful spells with Manchester City, Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers.

However, that did not put the Blades off snapping up his services on a free transfer in January 2020.

Despite the fact that the Bramall Lane outfit did not spend a transfer fee on Rodwell, they must still regret his signature, as he made just two appearances for the club as he showed very little quality.

Ben Woodburn

Similarly to the aforementioned Brewster, Woodburn's move to the Blades on loan from Liverpool in 2018 was surrounded by plenty of hype, as he was previously the Reds' youngest ever goalscorer, having scored in the EFL Cup against Leeds United in 2016 as a 17-year-old.

However, Woodburn failed to notch a single goal contribution for the South Yorkshire outfit in eight appearances, before his season-long loan spell was cut short.