'He deserves to do well after all he's been through' - Chris Wilder on injury-hit Sheffield United striker

Three-and-a-half years after Wilder sanctioned a club record transfer fee, it is fair to say the striker, pictured, has not been.

Injuries have restricted him to just 30 league starts and four goals. For the first time since early November Brewster was able to add to the first of those numbers at Molineux but not the second. His last Blades goal was in October 2022. Wilder is firmly of the belief that once he puts that second statistic right, the 23-year-old will start to blossom.

“When you see what he's been through and he's not had four or five games in the reserves or whatever, he's training and getting himself back, he's been so unlucky,” said his manager, who has left the club, managed Middlesbrough and Watford, then returned, as Brewster has toiled away. “If there's one player in my time at Sheffield United that we want to do well, or myself personally, it's him because of what he's had to go through. There's been a narrative of him being criticised. Does the boy want to sit on the treatment table? No. Does the boy want to come over from Manchester every morning at seven in the morning and leave at five o'clock? No, he doesn't.

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“So for him to get himself out of that position and producing a performance on his first start for a long time on Sunday was great.

“Goalscoring is the hardest thing in the book but he can finish. He's a player. We'll be delighted when he gets that first goal (of the season) and when he does you'll see him grow and grow.

"He came as a big player, a young boy at Liverpool – he didn't come with an injury record. We went through the full report, medical and everything, but he's been injured, reinjured, returned to action, reinjured.

“He's there to play football, he wants to play football. He's had an incredible start to his career, he was one of the best No 9s in the world at 18 and 19, he wouldn't have been involved in Liverpool and won the (under-18) World Cup otherwise.

“So for that to be taken away from him through unfortunate injuries, he's a boy who cares and wants to make a contribution to the football club.”