Sheffield United lived to regret £10m transfer deal - despite offering flashes at Bramall Lane | OneFootball

Lys Mousset never delivered on the hype of a club-record transfer at Sheffield United.

Lys Mousset never delivered on the hype of a club-record transfer at Sheffield United.

The Frenchman joined the Blades in 2019 for £10m, a figure that was a club-record fee at the time.

But after not reaching double-figures of goals across the three seasons that followed, he left on a free transfer.

Lys Mousset excitement levels were high as Sheffield United seal club-record transfer

Mousset impressed at French side Le Havre after coming through their youth ranks, earning a move to AFC Bournemouth. With 14 goals and three assists across 36 games in France, the centre-forward planted his name among the most promising attacking players in football.

After his move to the south coast of England, the striker played 71 times across a three-year spell. However, he only managed five goals and one assist across that stint. It was a poor return for someone who looked to have buckets of potential following the first act of his career.

That did not deter United from spending a club-record fee for him in 2019, moving him to South Yorkshire for the then-Premier League side.

While his goalscoring pedigree did improve from the Cherries to the Blades, he never excelled or even got close to the numbers he managed in France.

It was the third time in the summer of 2019 that United broke their club-record for a transfer fee, while the signing secured a profit for Bournemouth after originally recruiting Mousset for around £5.4m.

He found the net against Arsenal, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur in his debut term, as well as securing a hat-trick of assists against Burnley, but his ten goal involvements in 30 Premier League games were as good as it got.

However, the potential that brought never came to fruition, especially in Sheffield, where his track-record became a source of frustration.

Lys Mousset's Sheffield United transfer will forever be a disappointment

United were in the Premier League when they recruited Mousset from Bournemouth, and in truth it was a transfer that never became anything other than a thorough disappointment.

He did show promising signs in his first season, scoring six of the nine goals he managed across three years at Bramall Lane. But, that was never enough to reach the potential he had when the Blades splashed out.

There is always a risk in spending a transfer fee that breaks records, as it immediately marks a weighty expectation next to that player's name.

For Mousset, it was never an expectation he got anywhere near reaching, and that remains a slight smudge against the list of successful signings the Blades have made over recent times.

The trajectory of Mousset's career since leaving the red and white side of Sheffield speaks to that as well. Now 29 years old, he has recently been released by League of Ireland side Boheniams after netting just once in nine league appearances.

It was a short statement that signaled the end to his time on the Emerald Isle, detailing a decision made by mutual consent in just 37 words.

Spells at Germany's VfL Bochum and back in his French homeland with Nimes Olympique have failed to bring goals either, with his career spiraling downwards since a disappointing transfer to Bramall Lane in 2019.

While Bournemouth managed to make a profit when they signed Mousset, the Blades lost out massively with a free-agent move signaling the end of a torrid spell in the Steel City. Another example of just how poor the Frenchman's goalscoring record has proven to be comes in a comparison with David McGoldrick, who was also released by United in the same summer.

In two seasons with Notts County, in the fourth tier of English football, the striker netted 30 times. Whereas, Mousset has scored less than a handful of times since leaving the Blades with a drought in front of goal at Bohemians, the latest in a string of shoddy returns.

Signing any striker, but especially one that comes for a club-record transfer fee, brings with it the expectation of goals and impact in quick fashion. For Mousset and the Blades, it simply never came.