How Birmingham City stole Sheffield United's millions with £1.5m transfer swoop | OneFootball

Sheffield United will look back on their Che Adams dealings with some regret.

Sheffield United, with Che Adams, did what all clubs dream of replicating: plucked a diamond from the rough of non-league football.

The most famous example is, of course, Jamie Vardy, who joined Leicester City after impressing in the fifth tier and went on to be one of their greatest ever strikers.

A similar pathway opened up for Adams when he impressed for non-league side Ilkeston and earned a move to the Blades.

But memories in Yorkshire will not be as fond as Leicester’s Vardy punt, as in this case, it was another club, Birmingham City, who came out on top.

Sheffield United took a gamble on Che Adams

When the Blades signed Adams, then just 18 years old, it was far from a guaranteed winner.

He was coming off the back of scoring eight goals for Ilkeston but, at that point, was still yet to play a senior game in professional football.

Still, the Blades, then under Nigel Clough, felt they’d seen enough, and parted with a fee to bring Adams to Bramall Lane, handing him a two-year contract on arrival.

It was not an immediate success, however. In his first season, he played 11 League One fixtures, netting just one goal in the play-off semi-final second leg.

Birmingham City came sniffing after a strong Adams season

Adams’ second season with the Blades was much more productive, this time making 36 appearances and netting 11 goals in League One.

This attracted the attention of Birmingham, who parted with £1.5m to bring the striker from Bramall Lane to St Andrew’s in the summer of 2016.

Even this deal was not risk-free though, as this fee marked a significant sum of money for a player who had at that point, played one good season in the Football League.

Notching seven and five goals in the Championship consecutively in his first two seasons in the Midlands wasn’t the worst return, but the Blues may have been wondering at that stage whether they’d spent their money wisely.

They need not have feared...

Sheffield United will rue missed opportunity with Adams

In the 2018/19 season, Adams truly showed what he was all about.

In 46 second-tier games, he recorded an impressive 22 goals and five assists, in the same Championship season that saw the Blades promoted to the Premier League, whilst Blues would finish 17th - making Adams' 20+ goal return even more eye-catching.

So, while United had plenty to celebrate themselves that year, there would surely have been a tinge of regret that they had a player like Adams in their ranks that they let go for a relatively small sum not too long ago.

What certainly would have caused upset at Bramall Lane in that summer of 2019 is the fee Birmingham agreed to sell the striker, tempting Southampton into a £15m bid ahead of their Premier League campaign.

Had the Blades held onto Adams instead of sanctioning a sale, he may have been stepping into the top flight with them, or bringing in a similarly large fee.

Either way, Sheffield United will struggle to avoid feeling like they missed a trick with Adams when looking back at their dealings.