Over the decades at Bramall Lane a host of Sheffield United players have made themselves cult heroes and fan favourites by showing many of the characteristics that define the football club. But at the same time there have been some plying their trades elsewhere who just have that United ‘feel’ about them.
So, for a bit of international break fun, we put the appeal out to Blades fans to choose the most ‘Sheffield United’ players to have never pulled on the famous red and white stripes - and some of the illuminating responses highlighted exactly what Unitedites want to see from their players. From World Cup winners to former Leeds men and even a current Wednesday man, here are some of the suggestions...
9. Jordan Pickford
England’s No.1 is clearly out of United’s league but in terms of the type of player and character he is, you could easily see him between the posts at Bramall Lane each week. The Everton stopper was James Hall’s pick | Getty Images
10. Keinan Davis
A young forward who was always a real physical handful when he came up against United, either for Villa or Watford, but didn’t have the goalscoring record to sustain his time at Villa Park and moved to Udinese just over a year ago. Suggested by James Bedley | Getty Images
11. Robbie Savage
Blades fan Russell Lonsdale: “Oppos hated him, we’d have loved him in the Blades shirt.” Who can argue with that? | Getty Images
12. John Beresford
Sheffield-born and a big Blades fan, the left-back never pulled on the red and white stripes and instead had his most success at Newcastle United after spells at Barnsley and Portsmouth – although the Kimberworth Blade on Twitter would have loved him to play for United | Getty Images