Sheffield United pulled a blinder with Arsenal transfer decision - Chris Wilder loves him | OneFootball

Sheffield United's deal to sign Sydie Peck has delighted Chris Wilder

Sheffield United pulled off a transfer masterstroke when they were able to convince Sydie Peck to join the club from the Arsenal academy system.

The midfielder initially began his career with the Gunners, joining from a very young age, before moving to Bramall Lane in 2021.

He never made a single senior appearance for the London outfit, moving to the Championship side at the age of just 16.

The now 21-year-old first broke into senior football with a short loan move to Oldham Athletic in November 2022 to January 2023, playing nine times in the National League.

The following campaign saw him play just one time for Sheffield United, with Peck having to wait until 2024/25 before really showing what he’s capable of under Chris Wilder.

But he has now cemented himself as a key part of the Yorkshire outfit’s first team plans, proving one of the club’s shrewdest pieces of transfer business in some time.

Sydie Peck’s importance to Sheffield United

Peck made his league debut for Sheffield United in a 1-0 win over Brentford in the Premier League on 9 December 2023, coming off the bench for the final 10 minutes.

But he had to wait another nine months before getting his second appearance, again coming off the bench as the Blades won 2-0 against Preston North End on 9 August 2024.

The midfielder made 42 appearances in the regular Championship campaign, including 32 starts, as the club earned a third place finish, narrowly missing out on automatic promotion.

By the time the play-offs rolled around, Peck had proven himself as a crucial part of Wilder’s plans, and he started all three of their games as they reached the play-off final, suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Sunderland.

Given he was signed from Arsenal as an academy player, his rise to such a crucial role in the squad shows the importance of recruiting underage players to the club.

Peck went into Sheffield United’s academy system, and took just a couple of years to become a core part of the spine of the team.

With Ollie Arblaster’s injury in November 2024, which kept him out for over a year, Peck stepped up and hasn’t looked back.

With Wilder back at the helm now after a Ruben Selles experiment, he is starting to even show some attacking threat, with recent goals against the likes of Portsmouth, Leicester City and Stoke City.

Sydie Peck signing is the template Sheffield United should follow

Peck joined Sheffield United from Arsenal as the club’s track record of promoting younger players gave him a platform he felt could award him first team minutes.

It’s unlikely he was going to make it under Mikel Arteta, and he’s proved the gamble worthwhile with his rise to prominence in the last couple of seasons.

But that rise wouldn’t have happened without the smart recruitment to lure him from the Emirates to Bramall Lane.

Scouring the country’s best academies for potential prospects is a clever strategy for getting an edge on your rivals, and Sheffield United have proven that with their move for Peck.

While the likes of Arblaster have been developed completely within the Yorkshire outfit, bolstering the youth setup through recruitment from rival clubs can pay huge dividends at a relatively minimal cost.

Peck is now somebody that could either play a crucial role in a possible promotion run, or even possibly net the club a major transfer sum.

While recruitment of senior players has been a bit more hit and miss in the last couple of transfer windows, the deal for Peck shows a much more straightforward, and perhaps lucrative, path the club could take to improving the squad.