Why Sheffield United should sign Alisson Euler from Gremio in January
It has been a great season for Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United in the Championship and the Blades currently sit 3rd in the standings, just a couple of points adrift of second-placed Norwich City.
Sheffield were struggling in the third-tier just a few years back and now, the Blades find themselves on the brink of securing automatic promotion to the Premier League. It has been a remarkable turnaround of fortunes for Wilder’s side and they have every reason to be looking forward to great things heading into the second half of the season.
Sheffield have reaped the rewards of playing some good attacking football under Wilder’s back-three system and the Blades have a really impressive goalscoring record, having scored 45 goals so far. Seasoned campaigner Billy Sharp has been the spearhead of the attack with 16 goals, leading the club’s surge.
Playing as a supporting striker in a No.10 role, Mark Duffy has contributed with 4 goals and 3 assists, while Irishman David McGoldrick, who has done a fantastic job up front alongside Sharp, is just shy of the double-digit mark with 9 goals to his name.
In all honesty, Sheffield can rely on their in-form attackers to deliver the goods in the second half of the season and continue the club’s push for automatic promotion. However, most of their attackers are on the wrong side of 30 and an injury to one of them would leave the manager short of quality options.
Sheffield have already taken a step in the right direction by signing Oliver Norwood permanently and they should not hesitate to splash the cash to bring in another attacking midfielder to give themselves a better chance of outscoring the likes of Leeds United, West Brom and Norwich City.
To put things into perspective, they should make a move for Gremio’s highly-rated attacker Alison Euler in January to add depth to their options.
A product of Cruzeiro’s youth system, Alisson was a seasoned campaigner for his boyhood club from 2012 to 2017 before making a move to fellow Brazilian Serie A club Gremio. A former youth international for Brazil, Alisson has made a name for himself at the club level as a fast, agile and fleet-footed left-winger blessed with creativity and a good eye for goal.
Standing at 5ft 8in, Alisson is not the most physically dominating attacker but he has considerable upper body strength, which coupled with his drive, power, pace and determination makes him a handful for any opposition.
Just like most of his countrymen, he is blessed with a wonderful technique and his low centre of gravity allows him to keep good body balance and exceptional close control.
Alisson has the ability to leave the defenders for dead with his sudden bursts of pace, sharp turns and clever changes of direction in the wide areas.
While he is adept at cutting inside from the left with his stronger right foot and makes space to have a crack on goal, he is equally good at linking up the play with his passing, awareness and vision.
Furthermore, he is extremely agile and is vigilant to the proceedings, allowing him to latch on to the loose balls in the final third.
A player of his calibre ticks all the boxes to taste success in the Championship and Sheffield United would do their chances of securing automatic promotion a world of good by getting their hands on the 25-year-old Brazilian.