🍀 Sam Curtis: "wonderkid"
One of the League of Ireland's brightest prospects moves to Bramall Lane. How, why and what next for Sheffield United's newest signing?
Sam Parry
From one Sam to another, welcome to Bramall Lane.
Two days after Sam Curtis was born in 2005 in Navan Ireland, Sheffield United beat Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 at home. It was another Irishman, Alan Quinn, who scored the winner. A penalty-box thump that hit Neil Shipperley on the line, and a goal that a Virtual Assistant Referee would certainly spend an age reviewing in today’s Premier League (all due caveats that it was a Championship game, and Sheffield Wednesday’s experience of VAR is deeply, deeply limited — I’m sure it’s the best thing about supporting them these days).
Anyway, the point is this: Sam Curtis is an 18-year-old — eighteen!
And quite unlike most Blades yoof acquisitions in recent memory, Curtis has a profile to get very, very excited about. He’s the closest thing to signing a Football Manager-style “wonderkid” since Ché Adams and promises even more. Okay, you could add Ndiaye to that list but he was not a known quantity at the time.
To sign Curtis, the Blades fought off top-flight competition. You know the sort. Clubs champing at the bit, and expressing their appetite, no doubt, with promises of riches, real estate and resplendent training facilities (I’m guessing). And so, how did he end up at Sheffield United?
Supposedly, Blades coach Keith Andrews had a hand in it. He’s an ex-Ireland international; it tallies. But I assume that, in a sensible and all-too-rare decision-making process, the player and his advisors looked at Sheffield United and saw GAME TIME. Perhaps even minutes in the Premier League in the space of days, weeks or months. Put simply: he’s here to play. And longer-term, Curtis is arguably here to put himself on the shopping lists of those rapacious youth-eating clubs, not as a prospect but as a first-team player, once he’s proven himself at the level.
A right back with (almost) everything
So, who is Sam Curtis, what position does he play, and where does he fit in?
Doubtless, you’ll have spotted some cursory summaries online. They’ll tell you he’s a right back. They’ll tell you he’s been a great player for the League of Ireland club St Pat’s. They’ll tell you he was included in the Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland Team of the Year and that he was the youngest player in the league’s history to win then PFAI Young Player of the Year (2023) — all of this you can find out on Wikipedia.
I hope you’ll forgive my snarky attitude to the paint-by-numbers summaries, but here at The Pinch, we aim for insight you can’t find anywhere else. And so we spoke to David Judge, a human being who has seen the player play — it helps!
David told us:
Curtis has played a huge amount of senior football despite his age, and not only has been first choice for St. Pat’s for about a season and a half but also established himself as first choice right back for the Ireland U21 team. (For context, he’s playing alongside players three years his senior.)
The first thing that stands out when you watch him is his defensive qualities. Curtis is an excellent one-on-one defender and has great defensive instincts. He’s good in the air, despite not being particularly tall, and has even filled in at centre-back for Pat’s.
In terms of offensive qualities, he's a good crosser of the ball and is an intelligent footballer who makes good decisions on the ball. If he has one weakness, it would be that he's not blessed with outstanding physical attributes. He’s not overly quick or strong but will likely fill out a bit as he gets older.
I'm personally very high on him and think he'll be Ireland's starting right back within 3 or 4 years.
…thank you, David, you’ve given me pause for thought.
Because my assumption about signings of the Lip-Licking Wonderkid Variety (LLWV), is that all due excitement is built on the foundations of a dribbly player with 1-v-1 threat. Whereas David’s thoughts — alongside the data that back it up — speak of a real defender; not so much a dribbler, but someone who has the potential to use the football extremely well, keep possession, find feet, and make the right decision.
In many ways, that’s the often-talked-about dream combination of the defensive abilities and decision-making of George Baldock married up with the pure football ability of Jayden Bogle, except this particular lovechild can cross a ball. A dream ticket then?
Well, maybe not for now. Can you really expect a young player to arrive in a new country, a new club, with new team-mates, in the Premier League and not only start but thrive in matches? It’s a deep end that I hope we don’t throw him into right away.
That said, I would not be at all surprised if Sam Curtis got some minutes between now and the end of the season from the bench. Because this signing represents much more than the real whiff of excitement about having a star on our hands, it also more than likely spells the end of an era for one of George Baldock or Jayden Bogle.
Truth is, United are stacked at Right Back. It’s probably the only position where we have two good players vying for a spot, and that is only down to the resurgent form of Mr Bogle. For this season and next, the idea of three good right backs duking it out makes no sense. And if we assume that Curtis has opted for Bramall Lane over the vast array of other options due to the opportunity to play games, then someone has to leave.
The contracts of both Gorgeous George and Beautiful Bogle expire at the end of the season. Expect to see one of them signed up, and another… well… not. I expect it will be Baldock on the move, and that makes me sad because he has been one of the great competitors at Sheffield United and one of those rare players who absolutely “gets it”.
Our newest signing could learn a lot from Baldock about what it means to be a Blade. George was the future once, but maybe 2024 is the Year of Sam — for reasons known only to myself, I hope it is.
Enjoy your weekend, marvel at the FA Cup magic, and relish the prospect of another Ndiaye-scale hero at Bramall Lane.
Sam
Thanks, Sam
Another young hero at Bramall Lane will be marvellous - but as you say avoid the deep end for a little while, perhaps.
Looking forward to the year(s) of Sam!
Sue.