Vini Souza divides opinion but he can win over every Sheffield United fan

Fair to say Vini Souza has divided opinion among the Sheffield United fan base. Yet the ex players I’ve worked alongside while radio reporting at Bramall Lane this season have been united in favour of the 24-year-old Brazilian midfielder.

Which is not to say fans don’t know what they are looking at and I reckon most do appreciate him.

There are times when Souza, on the ball, looks ineffectual. But he is in there as an anchorman and his struggle for common approval might reflect on what supporters are used to seeing. Or to be precise, who. Ollie Norwood is a pleasing-on-the-eye ball player who has been the Blades orchestrator for some five years. But there is a reason why a very different type of midfielder was signed on a four-year deal last summer and why he has been largely preferred.

No bigger admirer of Norwood than Chris Wilder, the manager who made him one of his most influential signings, but Souza was the instant choice of the returning Blades boss. And, for me, there was no bigger example of what this languid-looking but ultra-competitive player brings than in last weekend’s 5-2 FA Cup loss to Brighton - when he wasn’t there.

Souza stayed on the bench until late, after Wilder made changes with an eye on Crystal Palace in midweek, and Brighton breezed through United’s midfield. The selection compromise also underlined the importance with which Souza is viewed from within

His Brazil homeland is renowned for its flair players rather than its defensive midfielders but the country’s great sides have always had a balance.

United, while obviously not to be compared, also have to strike it considering that the most skilful of their potential match winners - Hamer, McAtee, Archer - are relative lightweights. Souza brings a combative quality as a breaker-up of play and a strong athlete. Unlike Norwood, extravagant distribution is not his greatest strength but you can see him winning the ball often and using it simply.

With creative players at the front of the team and Wilder having a go in terms of his choices, you can imagine Souza being at the centre of things, or rather just in front of the back line, for the foreseeable.

He looks the right sort of character too, a certain no-nonsense unflappability about him. With his dyed blond hair, he makes for an easy target in a side that will inevitably be battling uphill in most of its matches. But I can well see him becoming a fixture and a favourite.