Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder provides fitness update on 'massive player'
SHEFFIELD United manager Chris Wilder admits he is counting down the days ahead of the return of a 'massive player' in Tom Davies.
The former Everton midfielder, 27, has had an injury-hit time at Bramall Lane, but is expected to be in contention pretty shortly, with his experience likely to be invaluable as the Blades seek to turn around their fortunes following an awful start to 2025-26.
Davies has yet to feature since suffering an injury in pre-season and while Wilder ideally wants to see him return sooner rather than later, he will not take any risks either.
Wilder, whose rock-bottom side visit Oxford United, where they will be seeking to end their torrid run of six successive league losses at the start of the campaign, said: "We need Tom back. He’s pivotal.
"He's one of the ones that excited me straight away. He trained on our first day.
"It’s the same situation with Blaster (Ollie Arblaster), managing the load and the risk and not rushing him back before he’s ready. "We’ve got 40 games left, so we’re not just going to chuck somebody back in before they're ready. It's not going to happen. I’m not going to take that risk.
"In an absolute ideal world, having Tom back would be a massive boost straightaway. But he's possibly a week or two off.
"I believe if he's not involved against Oxford, he'll be involved against Southampton. He'll definitely be involved against Hull.
"Tom's a massive player. One of the holes, which has been a quite big hole that we filled with a couple of the younger players, was obviously Vini (Souza), in terms of his experience.
"So having Tom back in there around (Djibril) Soumare, (Alex) Matos, (Sydie) Peck and around Arblaster when he’s back, is key for us. And key to keeping him fit as well."