With Sheffield United suffering relegation back to the Championship many supporters resigned themselves to seeing some key players depart the club this summer. There have been rumours of Anel Ahmedhodzic and Vinicius Souza being sold to help fund the huge squad rebuild. Two players the Blades fans don’t want to see sold this summer are Oli Arblaster and Gustavo Hamer.
Many Unitedites have had fears over the last few weeks regarding the potential sales of Arblaster and Hamer as they believe it’s vital to keep this dynamic midfield duo to help push for a bounce back promotion next term.
Now, their fears may have increased a notch with the recent news from Italy and the Netherlands stating that AS Roma are very interested in signing Hamer, per SciSports. It is claimed by RomaPress that the Dutchman has a price-tag of £20 million. The report believes the 27-year-old is seen as a direct replacement for the Premier League bound Houssem Aouar.
Sheffield United must keep Gustavo Hamer
In his first Premier League campaign Hamer was able to conjure up four goals and six assists but it was not enough to help the Blades battle against relegation, which was always going to be a difficult task after selling Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge shortly before the season began.
It is unsurprising to learn that when Arblaster broke into the first-team that correlated with the improved performances of Gustavo Hamer; Arblaster’s playmaking and progressive abilities allow Hamer to be freed up in more advanced areas of the pitch, something Sheffield United supporters will hope to see more of in the upcoming Championship campaign.
In his final full campaign in the Championship for Coventry City Hamer was an absolute machine, contributing to 19 goals: scoring nine and providing ten assists. He also averaged a shot on target per game and two key passes per game. It is quite evident, given his previous numbers, he is far too good for the second division in English football.
It would be a huge disappointment having to sell Hamer this summer given he still has another three years left on his contract. Unless the Blades get a bid in excess of £25 million they should reject all offers. Even if Chris Wilder fails in his bid to get United promoted this coming season then the club can still sell Hamer for a profit.
At this point Hamer is far too important to the rebuild and it would be extremely difficult to find someone who can replace his goals and assists numbers at Championship level. But it’s not just his goal contribution, it’s his work rate.
According to statistics provided by Sky Sports, Hamer was recording an impressive 11.44 sprinting pressures per 90 minutes in the Premier League back in September. Sprinting pressure refers to the act of a player closing down an opponent while maintaining a speed of 25 km/h or higher.
Notably, Hamer also ranked 5th-best in the Premier League, at that time, for average speed when pressing, covering an average of 5.76 meters per second. This demonstrates his exceptional athleticism and relentless effort in applying pressure on the opposition.
