Cardiff City striker Gary Madine has joined Sheffield United on loan, just over four years after making his final appearance for bitter rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
Madine signed for Cardiff 12 months ago from Bolton Wanderers for an undisclosed fee, but after failing to score in any of his 19 appearances for the top-flight side, he has opted to sign for his former enemies, Sheffield United for the remainder of this season.
During his time at Wednesday, Madine made 113 appearances and has scored 28 times for the Owls, one of which came against his new side United in a 2-2 draw at Bramall Lane in October 2011.
One contributing factor that makes the move even more surprising is because, in February 2017, a video emerged of Madine launching a verbal attack on Blades striker Billy Sharp, who will now become Madine’s captain in Yorkshire, an incident that at the time angered United manager Chris Wilder.
Despite that and the backlash caused by it, Madine told Sheffield United’s official website how excited he was to be signing for them and that it will be bizarre to face two of his former sides, Bolton and Sheffield Wednesday in league action.
He told sufc.co.uk: “There were other teams interested but believe it or not when I knew Sheffield United were interested, I was buzzing and jumped at the chance. I’ve played with some of the lads and against them too, I was dying to make the move happen.
“Some people have this perception I don’t like Sheffield United, but that’s not true. I have over 20,000 supporters booing me when I’ve played here before, it’s an intimidating place to come and some players would crumble.
“It will [be] strange facing Bolton and Sheffield Wednesday, but I’m a Blade now and all I want to do is win and score goals. I don’t care who that is against.”
Madine’s record for goals in a Sky Bet Championship campaign is 10, which he achieved in Greater Manchester with Bolton last season.
He will be hoping to open his account for the Blades when they face Queens Park Rangers at home on Saturday.
