Painting Sheffield Reda: Khadra joins United on loan with option to buy
Brighton winger Reda Khadra will spend a season season in the Championship after completing a loan move to Sheffield United, who have an obligation to buy the midfielder if certain criteria are met.
Khadra enjoyed a decent 2021-22 at Blackburn Rovers. He made 28 appearances, scored five times and claimed four assists in all competitions before a calf problem in March ruled him out for the final two months of the campaign.
The injury also meant he had to pull out of the Germany Under 21 squad following his first call up. Khadra has previously represented the Fatherland at Under 18 level and is eligible to play for Lebanon. Hello to all our Lebanese Facebook followers!
He won Goal of the Season for a stunning free kick as Rovers beat Queens Park Rangers 1-0, completing a memorable double for Brighton players on loan at Ewood Park.
Jan Paul van Hecke was named Blackburn Player of the Season. Unlike Khadra, he currently looks likely to have a part to play at the Albion in 2022-23.
Three of Khadra’s goals came in Rovers’ purple patch between November and January when they won eight, drew two and lost only one of 11 matches.
It was a run good enough for Tony Mowbray’s side to spend over 100 days in the Championship playoff places, including hitting the dizzy heights of second.
Unfortunately, Blackburn’s results tailed off from the start of February and they ended the campaign in seventh spot, six points off the top six.
Their final 17 matches yielded just four wins and scoring goals became a real problem, not helped by losing the creativity of Khadra.
One-time Brighton target Ben Brereton Diaz also suffered a dip in form and fitness problems. The Albion were heavily linked with a £20 million January move for the only Chilean international ever to have been born in Stoke-on-Trent.
The summer arrivals of Deniz Undav, Kaoru Mitoma and Julio Enciso have dampened the desperation for Brighton to sign a striker.
Subsequently, the rumours surrounding Brereton Diaz and the Albion have since died down. He is now being linked with a move to West Ham United.
The increase in attacking options for Graham Potter is what has led Khadra to spending another season on the road, this time with promotion hopefuls Sheffield United.
It will be a big year for Khadra. He is out of contract in 2023, which may explain why United have an obligation to buy as reported by Yorkshire Live.
A good season at Bramall Lane with Khadra hitting certain targets will result in Brighton getting a fee for the services of a player who could otherwise leave on a free next summer.
Khadra remains highly rated by a lot of Albion fans, and so the prospect of him permanently leaving the Amex without ever getting a chance to show what he can do is likely to cause some disappointment.
His only Brighton appearance so far was an exciting cameo from the bench in a 1-0 defeat at Manchester City in January 2021, just four months after signing from Borussia Dortmund.
Khadra appeared to offer something different from Graham Potter’s other forward options, largely because he wanted to run with the ball rather than pass it sideways.
There were calls for Khadra to be further involved beyond that evening at the Etihad Stadium, but Potter resisted. The winger instead had to settle for six Under 23 appearances. Three goals and two assists merely added to the expectations.
Khadra was picked by many Brighton supporters and pundits to be the Albion’s breakout start in 2021-22, including us here at WAB.
It came as something of a surprise then when he made the move to Blackburn on transfer deadline day. Little did we know that Jeremy Sarmiento was going to usurp Khadra in the pecking order so quickly following the Ecuadorian arriving from Benfica.
Enciso and Mitoma have now pushed Khadra further down the queue of young, exciting, creative players full of pace and trickery.
The result is another loan which this time may spell the end of Khadra’s Brighton career – presuming he meets those agreed targets and United have to turn the move permanent.
There is every chance that will happen if Khadra takes his autumn form for Blackburn, applies it to an entire campaign at Bramall Lane and avoids any injury setbacks.
