When Sheffield United confirmed the signing of attacking midfielder Callum O’Hare, social media was flooded with negative and bitter comments from his former supporters at Coventry City.
O’Hare, 26, spent four years with the Sky Blues – scoring 22 times and providing 30 assists. Some of his contributions were vital including in last season’s thrilling FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United, where his goal from outside of the box sent the game to 3-2 before Haji Wright’s equaliser in the 95th minute from the penalty spot.
Coventry City fan on Callum O’Hare joining Sheffield United
A Coventry City fan pundit spoke to Football League World about the move, “I think it’s a sideways move, in many ways.
“He said he wanted to leave to play Premier League football and it would appear that nothing really materialised from there.
“I just find it a bit bizarre. You look at his numbers last season: 31 league games, six goals, three assists – and they don’t exactly scream that he’s a marquee number ten signing or the sort you want when pushing for promotion.”
Are these bitter comments?
It does make for a good read when fans of their former players try to make out a team has signed a poor player from them. In reality, those 31 league games can be broken down into 18 starts, averaging 57 minutes per game. When you break it down like that: six goals and three assists doesn’t sound bad at all considering he was coming back from a bad injury.
In the 2020/21 Championship campaign, where he had zero injuries, the Solihull-born midfielder registered three goals and eight assists. The season after, he scored five times and served up eight assists. To get 24 goal contributions in two seasons is quite some going when you factor in that he can’t dilute those numbers with freekicks and penalties because Gustavo Hamer and Viktor Gyokores were on the vast majority of dead-ball situations.
A statistical breakdown of Callum O’Hare
Last season, O’Hare emerged as a standout performer among Championship attacking midfielders, despite coming off the back of a long-term injury. His defensive contributions were particularly notable, ranking in the 82nd percentile for tackles, with most of these occurring in the middle third of the pitch. His effectiveness in dispossessing dribblers was even more impressive, placing him in the 92nd percentile, underlining his exceptional work rate off the ball.
One of O’Hare’s key strengths is his ability to receive and retain the ball in advanced, congested areas, a skill reminiscent of Iliman Ndiaye. He ranked in the 83rd percentile for touches in the attacking third and in the 87th percentile for offensive duels. This indicates his proficiency in shielding the ball from defenders, maneuvering to maintain possession, and sustaining the attack. His knack for drawing fouls, ranking in the 84th percentile, further illustrates his ability to handle the ball under pressure and disrupt the opposition.
In the final third, O’Hare’s dribbling skills create valuable opportunities for both himself and his teammates. Although his take-on success rate is modest, ranking in the 34th percentile, he excels in using these dribbles to generate scoring chances. He ranks in the 76th percentile for shot-creating actions and an impressive 99th percentile for goal-creating actions stemming from take-ons. While he is capable of unlocking defences with a pass, his most effective creative contributions often follow a successful dribble, as evidenced by his 67th percentile ranking for key passes and 77th percentile for expected assists.
O’Hare’s optimal role is as a central attacking midfielder, where he can roam freely and contribute to creating overloads on either wing, akin to the role Mark Duffy played for the Blades a few years ago.
His heatmap from last season reflects his versatility and willingness to engage on both flanks. Interestingly, despite his central position, his most active areas are often towards the sides rather than the centre of the pitch, highlighting his dynamic presence across the attacking third.
Statistical comparison: Callum O’Hare vs Stephy Mavididi
Stephy Mavididi had a wonderful debut season for Leicester City last term playing in all 46 Championship games and notching 12 goals and six assists. If it wasn’t for Leeds United’s Crysencio Summerville, the 26-year-old would have quite rightly been in the Championship’s Team of The Season.
Mavididi was on the receiving end of praise from several neutrals last campaign, and when you look at a comparison between him and O’Hare things suggest that O’Hare could be about to have a similar campaign like Mavididi just had, providing he has shaken off the injury troubles.
From the image above (taken from FBref), you can clearly see that the new Sheffield United man recorded better statistics in goal-creating actions and shot-creating actions than the Leicester City man did. This is some feat: don’t forget O’Hare just missed 50 games in the season prior due to two bad injuries, as well as missing a portion of the start of the 23/24 campaign.
Additionally, you can see that O’Hare and Mavididi are level in the assists metric. Meanwhile, O’Hare just edges him in the key passes metric.
This to me is a positive indication and it does suggest that O’Hare is on the verge of having a breakout year similar to what Stephy Mavididi just had for Leicester City. There is a worry regarding O’Hare’s injury history, however, the only point of concern is that he missed 50 games across the 2022/23 campaign due to a mixture of a hamstring strain and an ACL injury, per Transfermarkt. And he continued his rehab into the start of the 2023/24 campaign.
I’m a Cov fan and lived in Sheffield for a while supporting United. COH is a top lad who will pick you up in games when you aren’t in them any more. He will quickly become a favourite for Blades fans IMO
Was a good player for Coventry, we’re upset about losing him on a free to a club in the same division but it makes more sense when you realise he failed his medical at Leicester where he wanted to go….his ACL injury was worse than thought and so they weren’t prepared to risk it financially (I know someone in the Leicester medical team)