England Under-21's manager Lee Carsley has admitted that Sheffield United forward Rhian Brewster needs support after struggling with his goalscoring form for club and country, speaking to the Daily Mirror.

The then-Premier League side parted with £23.5m to lure Brewster away from Liverpool last October and was expected to help keep the Blades in the Premier League, after seeing the 21-year-old score 11 times in 22 appearances for Swansea City during the second half of the 2019/20 campaign.

However, the England youth international struggled to adapt to the top flight and he failed to get himself on the scoresheet in 27 league appearances last term, summing up a torrid season for the South Yorkshire outfit as they finished bottom of the table.

After this goalless drought in the Premier League, racking up over 1,000 minutes of top-flight football during 2020/21, there was hope he would hit the ground running in the Championship. He did hold an exceptional record at Swansea City and was instrumental in guiding them to the play-offs, after all.

But despite finally breaking his duck for the Welsh club, scoring against Carlisle United in the Carabao Cup in August, he has only bagged this one goal in eight competitive displays so far this season and Slavisa Jokanovic has even admitted he is unsure of where his best position is.

Despite his domestic struggles, England Under-21's boss Lee Carsley has nothing but praise for the 21-year-old, saying: "Rhian needs support at the minute, he needs to see that we have faith in him as a country and that we rate him.

"He’s spending a lot of time with Joleon (Lescott) and Ashley (Cole) in terms of extra finishing.

"I really like Rhian. He’s not only a really exciting player, he’s a nice kid.

"He’s very level-headed and had a lot thrown at him in terms of someone so young, moving for big money and being in and out of the team."

The Verdict:

What Rhian Brewster desperately needed more than anything else was a quick start to this season after such a shoddy previous campaign.

Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to hit the ground running and the system switch to just one up top may prove to be detrimental to his Sheffield United career with the likes of Billy Sharp, Oli McBurnie and the returning Lys Mousset as options manager Slavisa Jokanovic could utilise.

His ability to play out wide could prove to be useful in terms of maximising his game time, but he will want to be in and amongst the goals and playing up top will probably give him the best chance of doing that.

In the end, a temporary move away from Bramall Lane to another Championship side could prove to be beneficial, but it would be hard to see the South Yorkshire side sanction that just in case he thrives and proves to be detrimental to the Blades' promotion hopes.

But he isn't going to get a loan to the Premier League and is too good to drop down to League One, so a loan spell abroad could be the next option. They won't want to cash in on him just yet though, because they would lose a huge amount on him at this stage and there's still plenty of time for him to come good.