Sheffield United could be set for Rhian Brewster reunion as Derby County eye deal for ex-Liverpool man
Sheffield United could be set for Rhian Brewster reunion as Derby County eye deal for ex-Liverpool man
Sheffield United could come face-to-face with their former striker Rhian Brewster next season after another of their Championship rivals were confirmed as admirers of the former Liverpool forward. Brewster left Bramall Lane when his contract expired at the end of last month.
Although the Blades refused to close the door on the possibility of a return to South Yorkshire, with a contract offer understood to have remained on the table, the prospect now appears unlikely with the new Championship season just over a week away.
Middlesbrough were linked with a move for the former Liverpool striker earlier this summer, and Derby County have now emerged as a possible destination for the free agent whose move from Anfield in 2020 could have cost United more than £23m if all the bonuses included in it were met.
BBC Derby reporter Dominic Dietrich confirmed the Rams’ interest in Brewster as they look to build on last season’s 19th-placed finish, having pulled away from relegation trouble after the appointment of John Eustace.
Sheffield United could be set for Rhian Brewster reunion as Derby County eye deal for ex-Liverpool man
Derby have already made seven signings this summer, including substantial investments in strikers Patrick Agyemang and Carlton Morris, and a move for Brewster could give Eustace options both up front and out wide, where he operated for United last term under former boss Chris Wilder.
Speaking to The Star at United’s warm-weather Spanish camp earlier this summer, Wilder’s successor Ruben Selles said of Brewster: “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 be 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.
He enjoyed a more injury-free season last time out, with one of his four goals an iconic Steel City derby winner over Wednesday at Hillsborough which secured a derby double for the Blades on their way to the play-off final.
That painful defeat to Sunderland under the Wembley arch looks increasingly like being his last in a red and white shirt, with a record of nine goals in 119 appearances since his move to South Yorkshire.