Patrick Bamford saga end offers fresh Sheffield United belief as Chris Wilder sees bigger impact ahead
Patrick Bamford saga end offers fresh Sheffield United belief as Chris Wilder sees bigger impact ahead
The ongoing saga over his Sheffield United future finally reached a conclusion over the weekend - and the best of Patrick Bamford is still to come in a red and white shirt, manager Chris Wilder believes. The former England international finally penned an 18-month deal on Sunday, with the option of extending it further as well.
The 32-year-old duly celebrated the deal with his sixth goal in Blades colours later that day but it wasn’t enough to book United’s place in the FA Cup fourth round as they lost 4-3 to League One side Mansfield Town on home soil.
Bamford’s introduction as a second-half substitute gave United much more attacking impetus and his close-range finish sparked hopes of a comeback from 4-1 down, but Wilder’s men couldn’t find the fourth they needed to force extra time.
But his cameo once again underlined Bamford’s importance to the United cause, and why his manager was so keen to see his time at Bramall Lane extended. “Both on the pitch, and off it, he’s important,” Wilder said.
“He had a bit of a calf issue this week, so he was rested up. I didn’t really want to put him on the pitch but I wanted to win the game and try and get through to the next round. That's the reason we put him on.
Patrick Bamford saga end offers fresh Sheffield United belief as Chris Wilder sees bigger impact ahead
“It was a throw of the dice, really. And we had to throw the dice pretty early, because I want to win. We should have been better. I get it’s difficult because they sat in, with a five and a four, but we should have been better.”
If he reports no ill-effects from the Mansfield game, Bamford is almost certain to return to the United starting XI for this weekend’s trip to Charlton Athletic as the Blades look to regain some of the momentum lost by the postponement of the Oxford United game earlier this month and the subsequent cup shock.
Asked if he felt there was even more to come from the former Leeds United man, Wilder admitted: “Yeah, definitely. He's such an important player off the pitch and on it. And we had to change it up, we had to make a difference.
“Pat made an impression and Tom Davies got some minutes. To keep him fit is key but ultimately I'm not going to look at it and go: ‘Well, Tom got some minutes, Blaster [Oliver Arblaster] got some minutes.’
“We're out of the cup. We wanted to progress, and we haven’t. And Nigel [Clough] has played a part in his team deservedly getting that result and going into the fourth round.”