Chris Wilder on whether Rhian Brewster will start at Liverpool

SHEFFIELD UNITED manager Chris Wilder says that club record signing Rhian Brewster is 'at the forefront of his thinking' regarding potentially starting from off against former club Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday night.
Chris Wilder manager of Sheffield Utd welcomes new signing Rhian Brewster. Picture: Simon Bellis/Sportimage.Chris Wilder manager of Sheffield Utd welcomes new signing Rhian Brewster. Picture: Simon Bellis/Sportimage.
Chris Wilder manager of Sheffield Utd welcomes new signing Rhian Brewster. Picture: Simon Bellis/Sportimage.

Brewster, who recently moved to the Blades from Merseyside in a £23.5m move, made his debut from the bench in last Sunday's home draw with Fulham and is pushing for a start at the weekend, buoyed by a full week's training.

The Blades chief said: "Rhian is an infectious character. It was a difficult decision for me on Sunday whether to start him or bring him off the bench.

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"He has obviously had another week's training and put himself right in the frame to certainly be involved and start as well.

"He is really at the forefront of our thinking. I'd have no hesistation (in starting him). He's pushing.

"His natural ability and talent is there to be seen by everybody and everybody has seen that already.

"It is just from the physical side of it and not opening him up to injury and not damaging him. We want him to play and get him in the team and always the big decision from the manager is the timing of that.

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"Certainly a week's training will not have given him any harm at all and he's been bright and bubbly and is definitely in our thoughts to start."

Wilder confirmed that the club are awaiting a doctor's report regarding Max Lowe's potential involvement.

On his first league start for the Blades, the recent recruit from Derby suffered concussion last Sunday and was forced off after just 19 minutes.

Lys Mousset (foot) could return to training in six to weeks, while John Fleck (back) will be out for the next month - with Jack O'Connell (knee) being a long-term absentee.

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Liverpool head into the game with significant injury issues too, with Alisson and Virgil van Dijk both on the sidelines.

Most has been made about the absence of the latter for Liverpool following Jordan Pickford's controversial challenge last weekend in the Merseyside derby, which is set to keep the Dutchman out for most of the remainder of the campaign.

But Wilder believes that the injury problems which have befallen his side are worse, comparatively.

He said: "It is relative, isn't it. Us losing Jack O'Connell, John Fleck and Mousset are huge blows for us. I would say bigger blows for us than what Virgil van Dijk for us in my opinion for us as a football club.

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"We all have to go through these situations. But there's still a lot of world-class players there (at Liverpool), even though they may have lost a world-class player for a lengthy period of time. And they still have those top three at the top end of the pitch who can hurt anybody on their day.

"We understand we have got to play somewhere near our absolute maximum and best to get ourselves any opportunity of getting a result."

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