Alan Biggs' Sheffield United column: Can Lys Mousset help turbo-charge Blades to even greater heights?
Chris Wilder’s thoughts on this would have been open to conjecture - in any other league.
You suspect he feels it goes with the territory of a Premier League club and the price you pay for attracting top talents at that level.
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Hide AdWorth paying, too, if the car’s owner scores the winner against Arsenal, as Lys Mousset did this week.
Of course, anything showy or pretentious does go against the grain of a manager whose mode of arrival to a home fixture this season has been known to be on foot, running from his home. Wilder is also a regular bus traveller, happily so.
But if the Lamborghini driver performs at a high level then no-one can have any complaints, least of all his boss. Indeed, a player has to do that if he makes a personal statement of this sort at the least flashy club you could imagine in the Premier League.
So over to you, Monsieur Mousset, and in fairness this is a striker who has shown that he’s capable of, dare I say, turbo-charging Wilder’s team. Beyond his natural pace and power, the £10m former Bournemouth striker has also displayed a healthy attitude in his appearances so far, including big goals against both Chelsea and Arsenal.
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Hide AdGoing through the gears “away from the lights”, as his manager likes to say, has put Mousset in pole position up front.
“He’s been banging on the door and he’s ready,” Wilder told me after Monday’s Mousset winner.
No-one minds a Lamborghini in the car park in such circumstances. Indeed, it could be taken as an expression of the 23-year-old Frenchman’s confidence in himself.
Wilder wants to see something similar surging through a side that has competed well with everyone in every game, now that he and Alan Knill have established a near-perfect balance between characteristic attack and containment of super-talented opposition players.
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Hide AdThis is another area of fine balance - between staying grounded, a given with this group, and having more self-confidence to express themselves. Of possible assistance is the realisation that no regular Blades watcher was surprised they beat Arsenal. It might be a harsh expectation of this team, but that performance was in the locker.
“One of my biggest criticisms is that belief,” said Wilder, meaning lack of on occasions. One thing’s for sure. It is building nicely ahead of West Ham away on Saturday.