Sheffield United

Sheffield United's 1-0 defeat by Cardiff City in the FA Cup third round on Thursday night was watched by just 6,126 fans, meaning Bramall Lane was less than a fifth full.

Former Blades midfielder Michael Brown says he was disappointed by the low attendance but tells The Football News Show that the FA Cup still holds allure for players, clubs and supporters.

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Image source, Rex Features

Several Championship clubs will be playing close attention to comments from Aston Villa boss Unai Emery about attacking midfielder Louie Barry.

The 21-year-old has been recalled by Villa this week after a stellar loan spell with League One Stockport, where he scored 16 goals this season.

Leeds, Sunderland, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby, Middlesbrough, Millwall and Coventry are among the clubs reported to be keen on taking Barry for a stint in the second tier for the remainder of the campaign.

Speaking ahead of Villa's FA Cup third round clash with West Ham, Emery said: "(Barry) trained with us and we are going to make a plan with him, an overall plan,

"I think he is a very good player who is progressing well. He has been on loan doing fantastic. Now we can have a new plan with him.

"He improved because he was scoring a lot of goals on loan. With us he only trained today and yesterday. Of course we are going to try and get a good plan for the club with him."

Sheffield United are in advanced talks to sign Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury as boss Chris Wilder looks for reinforcements for the injured Oliver Arblaster. (Football Insider, external)

The Blades and West Bromwich Albion are among clubs interested in signing Liverpool forward Lewis Koumas, with the 19-year-old impressing in his 25 Championship appearances on loan at Stoke City this season. (Daily Mail, external)

Want more EFL transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column.

Derby are hoping to beat Sheffield United and Leeds to the punch and complete a loan deal for Louie Barry, who has been recalled by Aston Villa after scoring 16 goals on loan at Stockport in League One this season. (Yorkshire Post), external

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Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder lauded his players for the effort they showed in their 2-1 win over Watford.

Goals from Gustavo Hamer and Andre Brooks secured a first win in three games to reignite the Blades' promotion charge.

"I'm quite emotional about today; it was an incredible effort by everybody," Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"We are so stretched; some players shouldn't have set foot on the pitch let alone played 75 or 90 minutes. How Tom Davies has played 90 minutes I'll never know.

"The effort and character of the boys when we are up against it. It was fine margins against Burnley, West Brom and Sunderland, Watford have a good home record."

Wilder also called on his team to continue in this vein in order to secure an immediate Premier League return.

He said: "We have to use this. The supporters were incredible today - they recognised the boys were running on empty. We couldn't shake things up.

"Too much is made about style and performance. You've got to want to win. They deserved that win - the players and supporters."

Image source, Rex Features

Ismaila Coulibaly has left Sheffield United after making only nine appearances in more than four years at Bramall Lane.

The midfielder, who has one cap for Mali, has joined Austrian Bundesliga side LASK for an undisclosed fee.

The 24-year-old had one minute of Championship action for the Blades, off the bench in a 3-0 home win over Swansea City in February 2023.

He made five FA Cup appearances as the Blades reached the semi-finals in 2023, starting in the fourth-round replay win over Wrexham and the 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in round five.

His only two appearances this season came in the EFL Cup in August in a win over Wrexham and a defeat by Barnsley. His other Blades game was in the EFL Cup defeat against Lincoln City 12 months earlier.

Coulibaly has also had loan spells with Beerschot in Belgium and AIK Solna in Sweden.

Watford and Sheffield United will seek to get back on track when they meet on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

The Hornets have lost back-to-back games to fall out of the play-off places while the Blades have picked up just one point from three games since Christmas to fall off the pace in the promotion race.

• Watford are unbeaten in each of their past four home league games against Sheffield United (W3 D1), keeping a clean sheet in each of those matches since losing 2-0 in January 2009.

• Following a 1-0 win at Bramall Lane in September, Sheffield United are aiming to complete a league double over Watford for the first time since 2008-09 under Kevin Blackwell.

• Watford were unbeaten in 15 straight home league games prior to losing to Cardiff in their final match of 2024 (W10 D5) – the Hornets last lost two in a row at Vicarage Road in the Championship in February.

• Sheffield United are unbeaten in their past 13 Championship matches played on a Saturday (W9 D4), since a 1-0 loss at home to Luton in March 2023.

• Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has never won away to former side Watford in the league, drawing 0-0 with the Blades in the Premier League in October 2019 before losing 2-1 with Middlesbrough in the Championship in August 2022.

Sheffield United are considering re-signing a forward - either Southampton and Chile's Ben Brereton Diaz, 25, or Las Palmas and Scotland's Oli McBurnie, 28 - in a bid to boost their promotion hopes. (The Star, Sheffield), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column

Image source, Getty Images

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield he was proud of his team after their 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion because of the injuries ravaging his squad.

The draw put the Blades one point clear at the top of the Championship when the game finished, with promotion rivals Leeds United and Burnley both playing on Sunday evening.

"We are so stretched it's unbelievable, and I'm so proud of my team, I thought we were light at the start of the season," he said.

"But I've learned so much about their attitude, especially late on. A few of them have not been well this week, but they left everything out there.

"We were actually really disappointed to go in 1-1 at half-time. But we were pushing and pushing to get a winner. We were bold, we were brave.

"Andre Brooks was outstanding. He needed to do more Monday to Friday in training - but I was delighted for him to get that goal."