Gus Hamer takes important Sheffield United injury step as Blades expect “great news” for Preston North End trip
Gus Hamer takes important Sheffield United injury step as Blades expect “great news” for Preston North End trip
Gus Hamer has taken an important step in his recovery from injury, boss Chris Wilder has revealed, with Sheffield United hoping to welcome back their star man as soon as possible. The Brazilian-born Dutchman has missed United’s two games this week after damaging knee ligaments over the international break.
He has also been ruled out of tomorrow’s trip to Preston North End, with a decision set to be taken going forward on whether he returns before the latest international break early next month, which will give everyone chance to pause for breath.
The Blades have coped admirably without Hamer, winning back-to-back games against Watford and Blackburn Rovers to breathe some fresh life into a campaign which started so terribly. But his return can only boost the Blades, with the small matter of a Steel City derby against Wednesday on the horizon as well.
Hamer sparked some concern when he was spotted wearing a knee brace at the weekend but he is now free of that, suggesting his recovery is progressing as expected as the Blades look to get him back as soon as safely possible.
"He won't make the weekend so we'll see where he is for next weekend,” said Wilder of Hamer. “We'll see where he is for another three-game week, against Derby, Coventry and QPR up to the international break.
Gus Hamer takes important Sheffield United injury step as Blades expect “great news” for Preston North End trip
"We'll give him every opportunity to make himself available. “He's a tough cookie, he doesn't miss many training sessions, he doesn't miss many games.
"'m not going to give anything away too much; nobody usually does that to me so we'll keep that under wraps. "If we can get him back sooner rather than later, that's going to be a big boost to the group as well.
"It wasn't looking too great when he was walking about with the brace on. He's out of that brace, he's working away and it's good to have him back because he's a really important player.
"I think everybody's realised, especially over the last two games, that we're not a one-man band as well. So the results that we've had have been without arguably our best player, and the Championship player of the year last season.”
Wilder’s options at Deepdale tomorrow could be boosted by the return of Tom Davies from a calf injury he sustained away at Hull City before the international break, which ruled him out of the last two games and opened the door for Djibril Soumare and new boy Jairo Reidewald.
Oliver Arblaster is back in training with next month’s trip to Hillsborough a potential return date from the ACL injury he sustained against the Owls last November.
"There's definitely an opportunity for Tom to be involved, which is great news for us,” Wilder added. “I was delighted with Soumare over the last couple of games. I was delighted with Riedewald's contributions over the last two games as well.
"Ollie is back training as well so he'll possibly be available for the Sheffield Wednesday game. He's just going through the rigmarole of a mini pre-season, which obviously he missed. Now that department is looking a lot healthier and more competition with Tom back.
“We've all seen glimpses of Tom in a Sheffield United shirt and, especially this season, his performance against Southampton for 60 minutes. We were deeply disappointed that he couldn't have built on that but that wasn't the case.
"To get Tom back into the group with the experience that we needed, with the likes of Ben Mee, Danny Ings, Chieo Ogbene, it's good for the group and it's a good feel about it.”