Sheffield United man opens up about fitness ahead of key pre-season

When Sheffield United announced the signing of central midfielder Tom Davies last summer, there was a feeling that the Blades had made an excellent signing for a newly promoted Premier League club given his array of top-flight experience. However, after 12 months, Davies made less than a dozen appearances for the Blades as they suffered instant relegation.

It’s easy to forget that the former Everton midfielder has almost 170 Premier League appearances at the age of 25. This statistic is often masked by the injury record of recent seasons.

For many years since coming through Everton’s academy, Davies has been a prominent and consistent figure in midfield at Goodison Park, but then a serious spate of injuries put an end to that.

In the 2021/22 campaign, the Evertonian missed 31 games in all competitions due to injury. His injury troubles continued into his debut season at Sheffield United where he made a total of nine appearances in all competitions.

According to The Star, Tom Davies has traveled to a neuro training center in Munich to continue his rehabilitation ahead of a key pre-season campaign.

The former Toffees man said: “I wanted to go out there and show the club that put their trust in me the qualities I have and what I can bring to the table. Unfortunately it wasn’t the way (last season) but next season is a great chance to rebuild and we aim to get back into the Premier League.

“For me, it’s to get back on the pitch and enjoy it again. I know we fell, but a lot of times in this rebuilding period, great teams can come from them.

“Players are being developed at the moment and given opportunities. We have a hungry squad and I’m sure the manager will get us ready for the season. It’s exciting. If we can get back into the Premier League then that will be great. But personally, I’m just excited to play football and rebuild the team and be a part of it.”

There is absolutely no doubting Davies’ ability on a football pitch. The problem is to help him and keep him injury free. You don’t play 48 times for an elite manager like Carlo Ancelotti if you don’t have key attributes like composure, intelligence and work rate, and during Ancelotti’s time at Everton we saw that in abundance from Davies.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo in 2021, the manager with the most Champions League trophies in history spoke fondly of Davies.

“With the ball maybe he doesn’t have the quality of a top midfielder, but in that position we have to play simple passes, you don’t have to get too complicated. Sometimes he touches the ball once or twice too much and I tell him to just play.

“He can’t play number 10, in my opinion, but when you play with three midfielders he can play all three positions, no problem, because tactically he is very smart,” Ancelotti said.

To be described as ‘tactically perfect’ by one of the greatest managers of all time is a huge compliment. But we need to see more of him on the pitch in the championship. And if he can stay fit, Sheffield United will have arguably the best midfield trio in the Championship, including Oli Arblaster and Gustavo Hamer.