Sheffield United send Tom Davies to Germany to 'dig deep' into injury issues

Ever since signing the now-27-year-old in August 2023, manager Chris Wilder has spoken of Davies' importance to the squad. When he has been on the field it has been evident, but that has been all too rare.

Now into his third season as a Blade, Davies has only started nine matches, never more than the three in a row. His problems go much further back, not having started five consecutively since he was at Everton in February 2021.

Excluding stoppage time, he has played 176 minutes of a possible 1,620 this season after a succession of calf injuries, and will miss Saturday's 12.30pm kick-off at Leicester City – a club Wilder spoke on Friday about nearly joining in the summer.

In a season where the Blades have had to invest heavily in experience – signing free agents Ben Mee, Danny Ings, Jairo Riedewald and Patrick Bamford to add nous to a squad unexpectedly dragged into a Championship relegation battle – they need more value for money from Davies.

"We've got to look at his schedule and really make sure, as much as we possibly can, he gets an extended run," said Wilder, who was sacked as Blades manager in June but returned in September before Davies added any competitive games.

"It's just been really unfortunate he broke down. We're going down a couple of different avenues. He's abroad at the moment, to see someone in Germany with our doctor.

"Hopefully, we'll try and get to the bottom of it because it's really important, not just for us, but for Tom.

"There's been no rushing the player back. There's been no recklessness from our point of view, in terms of his reintegration into the first team. We've all been satisfied he's been ready to go in.

"So maybe we're going to have to do a bit of a digger deep."

Chiedozie Ogbene is out until Christmas with a hamstring injury, and loanee Louie Barry is back at Aston Villa for treatment for a cyst on his knee.

Despite only signing in October, fellow midfielder Riedewald is fast catching up on Davies with seven Blades appearances, and he and striker Bamford, who joined in November's international break have quickly made themselves important figures at Bramall Lane.

They signed contracts until the January transfer window opened but Wilder is keen to keep both and hopes the feeling is mutual.

"I'd like to think there'll be enthusiasm from them," he said. "There's certainly an enthusiasm from me. I've already spoke to (chief executive) Stephen Bettis regarding it.

"I think we should move this forward. They've got all the attributes to help us short-, medium- and long-term. The balance of experienced players and young players is key.

"It's important that we have those leaders and that experience and calmness. Jairo showed it in bundles on Wednesday night (a 3-0 win over Portsmouth) and so did Pat (who scored on his full debut), I thought his performance was outstanding."

The prospects are not so good for Barry, signed on loan by Ruben Selles in the interlude between Wilder's second and third spells as manager.

The highly-rated 22-year-old wide attacker made five of his six starts in Selles' six Championship games in charge. He has played just 115 minutes for Wilder and seems almost certain to be sent back in January to make space for more signings.

"It's been a difficult loan for Louie but he's got an injury at the moment so Villa as the parent club are looking at that," said Wilder.

"At the start he played games and he was the previous manager's signing. His attitude has been spot on.

"He's not played a lot of football while I've been here with the change-up with Callum (O'Hare) playing off that left, and Gus (Hamer) playing off that left until he was injured and coming back into it now, and then Brooksy (Andre Brooks) playing there (normally on the right).

"I'm not going to make an unbelievable, controversial statement but there will be players on loan here that go back to their parent clubs."