Exclusive:Sheffield United boss addresses Rhian Brewster situation as transfer options "monitored"
Sheffield United boss addresses Rhian Brewster situation as transfer options "monitored"
Ruben Selles, the Sheffield United manager, has admitted he is currently planning for life in the future without out-of-contract striker Rhian Brewster - but is not ruling out the possibility of a Bramall Lane return for the former Liverpool man. The 25-year-old is now officially a free agent after his United contract expired on June 30.
A contract offer from United is understood to remain on the table for the striker but negotiations so far have not resulted in an agreement, with Brewster’s camp - as we revealed earlier this week - turning down an offer around January of this year.
The former England U21 international has been linked with a free agent move to Sunderland - who ironically beat United in the play-off final in late May to secure their place in the Premier League - and will be keen to get his future sorted out soon, with clubs back in pre-season training and the new campaign inching closer by the day.
The United party flew to Girona on Sunday without Brewster - with sources indicating to The Star recently that he was more likely to move elsewhere than re-sign for the Blades, as things stood.
Speaking to The Star at United’s warm-weather Spanish camp, Selles said: “For the moment I am planning for the players that we have right now. We have been talking about certain names ... he’s a player that has been in the club in the past and it will always be a possibility.
“We are still working on those things. But I cannot assure one way or the other, we need to continue monitoring the market. It’s a market that will be very fluid because of the different competitions going on and other situations. Premier League clubs with the loads. So I think that kind of situations, with the free agents, is not going to be right now.”
The prospect of seeing Brewster in another club’s shirt next season and beyond would bittersweet to Unitedites, the vast majority of whom supported Brewster through an injury-disrupted United career that has not lived up to the expectations that surrounded him when he made the big-money move from Liverpool in 2020.
Heralded the time as United’s record signing, the fee did not reach the £23.5m potential outlay including add-ons but it was still a significant outlay from the Blades at the time. Some fans will believe a significant chunk of that was repaid last season, when he tapped home the winner in the Steel City derby against Wednesday at Hillsborough, but others suggest that a record of nine goals in 119 appearances has not represented value for money.
If Brewster does indeed move on then it may force Selles into the transfer market once more, with Kieffer Moore, Tom Cannon and Tyrese Campbell currently their only senior options in the forward line.
In an inter-squad training game on Thursday afternoon Cannon was utilised as a left winger, potentially hinting at a change of role for the former Leicester City man who made a £10m move to Bramall Lane in the winter transfer window.