'Chaotic!' Don't judge new Sheffield United signing Ben Brereton Diaz on his time at Villarreal

On the face of it, it looks as though Sheffield United have added to a squad that hasn't scored that many goals this season, a striker who hasn't scored any. But that doesn't tell the full story of new loanee Ben Brereton Diaz's first half-season in La Liga with Villarreal.

So why has the formerly free-scoring ex-Blackburn Rovers forward failed, so far, in his Spanish adventure? The Star asked Ruairidh Barlow, Spanish football expert and editor of English-speaking La Liga site Football España for his take on Brereton Diaz's time at Villarreal and it's fair to say the Chile international has been very unfortunate.

What were people expecting of Brereton Diaz when he joined?

There were relatively high expectations, not necessarily that he would be a starter but that he would at least have an impact, perhaps have a 10-20 goals season. There is something to be said for an English language bias, the people who were covering Ben Brereton Diaz in Spain who are English-speaking were keen to see him do well because it's always good for the league to have that in there. It was kind of expected that he would at least have an impact and he's pacy, he's strong, he's quite big. He has a physical presence and he attacks spaces quite well. The fact that they signed Arnaut Danjuma from the Championship as well [Bournemouth] and he came in and was superb for a good season or so and Ben Brererton Diaz was coming from the same level, I think people did have reasonably high expectations.

He's had to play under three different managers, surely that will have had an impact on him settling?

In terms of the change in management, it has to be said that Ben Brereton has not been in a good situation in terms of the way his club is right now, The change in manager - Quique Setién isn't necessarily the type of manager that I would bank on getting the best out of Ben Brereton Diaz, he likes to play a slower pace of football and much more organised with the ball, so it's not necessarily leaving too much space for Brereton Diaz to attack. 

The changeover to Pacheta, who in theory would go more direct and suit Ben Brereton Diaz a lot more, leave a bit more space for him to get into but the reality of it is, and I think this is the case under Marcelino as well, Ben Brereton has been unfortunate in that his managers has been more likely to count on trusted or known players. You've got Gerard Moreno and that's immediately one of your forward positions filled, Álex Baena who's an enormously talented midfielder has been playing on the left and if they are playing a front three then Baena is likely to be in that front three. 

Equally if you've got Moreno up front in a front two so you've got one position and he's not necessarily a classic number nine, I would have said, or at least from what I have seen of him. I didn't watch a lot of him in England - but what I've seen [at Villarreal] he's not your classic number nine even if he does run the channels very well. Moreno is not a classic number nine either so he should in theory pair quite well with him in the fact that he moves off the ball very well. But I think the fact that Morales is much more of a tested prospect in La Liga, speaks the language, he's settled, he knows exactly what his managers are asking of him which has worked against him. Also when Marcelino came in back in November, Morales scored three or four goals in very quick succession, Brereton obviously hasn't scored yet. He's been unlucky in the way that's worked out, he did have a goal disallowed against Sevilla which should have counted and you saw his attributes in action there, his strength, his pace and his ability to be aggressive. 

Is he lacking in confidence?

That confidence for me is really hampering him a lot and you saw in the last few games, he doesn't seem to necessarily have the belief in himself and I don't think he necessarily has the belief that he's up to the level almost. I think he can be and he probably is as a player but that confidence is important. I think in general in an overall aspect it has to be understood that Villarreal have just been an absolute mess, chaotic, more or less everything is going wrong for them this season, there has been very few bright spots.

So if you factor that into a new player who's coming into a new squad that's already settled, has a lot of veteran players that kind of control the dressing room, a team that doesn't look happy and hasn't done for some time under both their previous managers. Marcelino in theory should fix that but Brereton Diaz is not necessarily a priority and so to get a manager to come in and really vouch for Brereton Diaz and put him in ahead of the more tested players there, I think it's unlikely and that's where the issues has come in because these managers are in desperate need of results right now and you have a striker who isn't scoring who doesn't seem to necessarily look like he's adapted to play too much and hasn't been given too much of a chance to. 

What about the future? Is the hope that he will come back and make a go of it again?

It doesn't help that this is the third manager and Marcelino has no loyalty to him, even Setién, again not necessarily a Setién signing in my book but the first manager at least consented to his arrival and worked out a way that he could function with him, whereas Marcelino doesn't have that, he's very much a strong-willed man and so I think he will look to get in players that he will benefit from. 

I hope that he does come back to Spain. Everything is very much up in the air at Villarreal but it could be that he comes back in pre-season, Marcelino has a little bit more time to work with him, has a little bit more of a side fashioned to his will. It's just so up in the air right now, two or three years ago they were the model of a well-run club and since then everything has kind of collapsed. I don't think it should reflect too much on Brereton Diaz but I hope he does return and it works out for him because I think he could be a very good player for Villarreal but the environment just hasn't been there for him.