Birmingham City Will Be The “Envy” Of Sheffield United With £1.5m Deal In Mind:

Sheffield United arguably took something of a gamble in the transfer market back in November 2014.

That came when the Blades, who at the time were competing in League One, moved to complete the signing of Che Adams.

The then 18-year-old striker made the switch to Bramall Lane from Ilkeston in the seventh-tier of English football, and was untested at professional level.

Despite that, Sheffield United were still reported to have paid a six-figure fee for his services, and it was a deal that in the end, did work reasonably well for them.

Che Adams made a positive impression at Bramall Lane

Having completed his move to the Blades in late 2014, the striker didn’t take long to become a feature in the first-team.

By the end of the 2014/15 season, Adams had featured 13 times in all competitions, scoring three goals.

That included one in the play-offs that wasn’t enough to prevent a dramatic semi-final defeat to Swindon.

The following 2015/16 campaign saw the forward become even more heavily involved, as he found the net 12 times in 41 outings in total.

Despite that Sheffield United were unable to even make the play-offs in League One that time round, being forced to settle for a mid-table finish in the third-tier.

Even so, Adams himself was able to attract attention in the wake from elsewhere in the transfer market, that may leave those of a Blades persuasion if they got everything they could out of him.

Birmingham City swooped for Sheffield United striker

In the summer of 2016, Adams would move on from Bramall Lane after just under two years with the Blades.

His next move would see him step up to the Championship, as he joined Birmingham City in a deal that reportedly cost around £1.5million.

Initially, it did take Adams some time to get going in the second-tier of English football, with the goals not exactly flowing for the striker in his first two seasons at St Andrew’s.

Indeed, that was something of a difficult period for the Blues, who ended both of those campaigns perilously close to the Championship relegation zone.

However, things would change in the 2018-19 season, as Adams well and truly found his scoring touch at that level for Birmingham.

Across the course of that campaign, the striker became a vital figure leading the line for his side, as he scored 22 Championship goals.

Many of his strikes helped the Blues to pick up positive results, not least with hat-tricks in a 3-3 draw with Hull City, and 4-3 win over QPR.

Indeed, amid those contributions from Adams, it was only a nine-point deduction for financial that caused the club to finish as low as 17th in the standings that campaign.

Not surprisingly, that goals return would once again see Adams become a target for clubs in a higher league.

As a result, the summer of 2019 would see the striker get his chance in the Premier League, as he completed a move to Southampton for a reported £15million.

Obviously, that gave Birmingham a big profit on what they had paid to Sheffield United for Adams some three years earlier.

The striker also went on to become a fairly reliable goalscorer in the top-flight for the Saints, also helping them win promotion last season after just one year in the Championship.

As a result, it could be argued that Sheffield United will be somewhat jealous of the way that things played out for Birmingham after they raided Bramall Lane for the forward.

Had they been the ones to keep him and contribute to his development, then the way he has progressed suggests he could have been an asset for the Blades on the pitch in recent years.

In turn, that could have ensured it was they, rather than Birmingham, who could have received a big fee for the sale of the striker further down the line, that could have been reinvested for themselves.

So with all that in mind, it does feel as though letting Adams move to St Andrew’s when they did, is something those of a Sheffield United persuasion may perhaps now be regretting.