Sheffield United's Everton recruit just about held his transfer value: View | OneFootball

Sheffield United made a slight loss on striker James Beattie in 2009 despite his prolific goalscoring record during his time at Bramall Lane.

Sheffield United will be hoping to challenge for promotion from the Championship this season.

It was an incredibly disappointing campaign for United last season as they were relegated from the Premier League after just one year in the top flight, but they look to be in a strong position to bounce back at the first attempt.

Despite operating against a backdrop of takeover uncertainty, it was a strong summer transfer window for the Blades that saw the arrival of 10 new signings, including striker Kieffer Moore from Bournemouth.

If United are to secure a return to the Premier League this season, they will need Moore to deliver the goals and follow in the footsteps of the likes of Billy Sharp, Iliman Ndiaye and Oli McBurnie, who have starred in the club's recent promotion-winning seasons.

However, arguably no striker has made a more significant impact at Bramall Lane in recent times than James Beattie, but the Blades may be disappointed that they were not able to make a bigger profit on him when he departed for Stoke City in January 2009.

James Beattie will go down as one of Sheffield United's best ever strikers

Beattie joined United from Everton in the summer of 2007 for a fee of £4 million following their relegation to the Championship, and his decent Premier League goalscoring record offered hope that he would be a success in the Steel City.

It certainly worked out that way, and Beattie netted an impressive 22 goals and provided four assists in 41 games during his first season with the Blades, earning him the club's Player of the Year award.

Beattie was the second-top scorer in the Championship in the 2007-08 season, with only Sylvan Ebanks-Blake netting more than the former England international, but his goals were not enough to secure a play-off place for United as they finished ninth in the table.

Unsurprisingly, Beattie's prolific form continued into the following season, and he scored 12 goals and registered three assists in 24 games during the first half of the campaign to fire the Blades into automatic promotion contention.

However, United suffered a huge blow when Beattie departed for Stoke in January 2009, and if losing him was not disappointing enough, they would have been incredibly frustrated to only receive a fee of £3.5 million for the striker, which actually represented a loss on the fee they paid for him 18 months earlier.

Given that Beattie scored 34 goals in 65 appearances for the Blades - an average of more than one goal a game - they would surely have expected to make a profit on him, particularly given that they were selling to a Premier League club.

United continued their promotion push in Beattie's absence, and after narrowly missing out on automatic promotion, they were beaten 1-0 by Burnley in the play-off final at Wembley.

Despite departing in January, Beattie was the Blades' top scorer in the 2008-09 season, and considering that they only finished three points behind second-placed Birmingham City, they will no doubt have wondered what could have been if they had kept hold of their talisman.

James Beattie may have regrets over Sheffield United exit

Few could blame Beattie for taking the chance to return to the Premier League with Stoke, but in hindsight, the striker may wish he had stayed at Bramall Lane and helped United to achieve promotion to the top flight instead.

Beattie scored seven goals and provided three assists in 16 games in the second half of the 2008-09 campaign for the Potters, but his form declined the following season, and he was involved in an infamous dressing room bust-up with manager Tony Pulis after a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal in December 2009.

Pulis initially continued to select Beattie after the incident, but he soon fell out of favour, and after scoring just two goals in 25 games during the 2009-10 season, he was sold to Rangers in August 2010.

It did not work out for Beattie at Ibrox, and after being released by the Gers following an unsuccessful loan spell at Blackpool, he returned to Bramall Lane on a short-term contract in November 2011.

The Blades would have hoped that Beattie could be the man to lead them back to the Championship, but he failed to find the back of the net in 19 games, and he suffered further promotion heartbreak as his side were beaten to a place in the top two by local rivals Sheffield Wednesday before losing on penalties against Huddersfield Town in the play-off final at Wembley.