Brian Deane talks Sheffield United and Middlesbrough as EFL reaches exciting run-in | OneFootball

Brian Deane has offered his perspective on the situations at Sheffield United and Middlesbrough

Football League World have exclusively caught up with former Sheffield United, Middlesbrough and Leeds striker Brian Deane to get his thoughts on the situations at a few of his former sides.

Take a look below at our Q&A with Deane via the home of Crypto Casinos.

Who goes up automatically Leeds, Burnley, Sheff United?

I think Leeds is probably a given now. What they’ve done in the games beating Sheffield United and Sunderland last week has broken the back. They just have to match other teams now, and they have too many games and teams will have to win too many games and Leeds lose too many games now.

I think Sheffield United aren’t a shoo-in but they’ve got enough to win enough games to go up now. Their form has been a bit patchy of late but I still believe that they’ll have enough to go up, but it won’t be straight forward and will have to do something about their consistency.

It will be close between Burnley and Sheffield United, but I just fancy United to nick it.

Is Tom Cannon going to be worth the £10-13m fee Sheffield United have spent on him in your eyes?

He’s 22, and in the grand scheme of things, £10 million isn’t a lot money in this day and age.

You only need one good season and that fee might double. From what I have seen, I definitely feel as though he has ability, he has a turn of pace, but there’s a lot of maturing to do.

The one thing that Sheffield United have now is different types of forwards and he has that ability to run in behind. It could turn out to be a good bit of business but we haven’t seen a lot of him yet, not in a Blades shirt anyway.

How impressed have you been by Tyrese Campbell at Sheffield United?

He’s an old-fashioned type of player, and has that physical aspect to him with decent pace and a little bit different.

He’s got good ability and if he can get over his injury issues and get a good run of games going, as he matures and develops, he could do a really good job. I like him and like the physical aspect of him; you can tell he’s an athlete but he’s well built as well.

If Sheffield United go up, do you back them to survive in the Premier League next season or not?

It’s going to depend on the investment they make and on the recruitment.

Recruitment is one thing and investment is a completely separate thing. You have to get players who can play in that division and you can’t talk about developing players in the Premier League, but have to have every aspect of your signings right to give yourself a chance.

The last time they went up they sold Ndiaye and Berge and I think they are asking for trouble if they do that again and it was a really poor season. Everybody was deflated down at the club before the season even started, selling our two most valuable assets and then going into a Premier League season.

It doesn’t really make sense and I was wholly disappointed. Like I said, the recruitment and investment will be key, but recruitment is going to be more important than simply throwing money at the situation.

Do you think Middlesbrough are making the right call to stick with Michael Carrick as pressure mounts?

Definitely. Michael is a young manager, been there a little while now, but if you keep chopping and changing, I just wonder if that is going to have any benefit to the team at all. Unless something happens where he has lost the changing room, then that is a different matter altogether.

I think he is a bright manager and I don’t see the point of sacking Michael Carrick, and then if you do get rid of him, what kind of manager are you bringing in?

I remember last year, everybody was saying to get rid of Daniel Farke, who has a proven track record at this level but people were calling for him to lose his job, and I just thought what kind of people are out there calling for the manager’s head because things aren’t working in the moment. You have to give managers time and I think Michael Carrick falls into that category.

He’s got a lot of development to do to become the finished article, but he’s managing at a level that he knows he can manage at, and I think it would be a strange one because he knows the culture of the people in Middlesboro so well, alongside Woody.

I think if they’re going to review anything, it needs to be at the end of the season, and I still think that Middlesbrough should make the playoffs. I’d be disappointed if they parted ways, unless there’s something that I don’t know about.