Chris Wilder addresses key Sheffield United priority amid Anel Ahmedhodzic future insight

Sheffield United’s hopes of holding onto Anel Ahmedhodzic may depend on achieving Premier League football this season, manager Chris Wilder has admitted, as the Bosnian defender approaches the final year of his current Bramall Lane deal. The centre-half is scheduled to become a free agent in the summer of 2026, as things stand.

A measure of consistency this season after a difficult term in the top-flight last term, Ahmedhodzic recently admitted he has “unfinished business” in the Premier League and that he feels he owes it to the club’s fans to achieve promotion. He remains grateful for the support of United and their supporters during a tough time personally, which featured his retirement from international duty and publicly cutting ties with his father.

Speaking recently to The Star, Ahmedhodzic insisted he hasn’t thought too deeply about his future beyond his contract and was placing full focus on United’s promotion push, which takes them to Oxford United this afternoon as they look to maintain - or even solidify, if others drop points - their grip on top spot in the Championship.

Since Wilder returned to the club, United have regained some of the power in terms of contractual situations in a bid to avoid a repeat of the situation two summers ago, when Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge were sold on the eve of the new season after entering the final year of their present deals; leaving United behind the 8-ball going into the Premier League.

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"He's done a few interviews on it,” said Wilder ahead of the trip to his former side. “I do think it's dependent on what happens at the end of the season because these are ambitious boys as well, but we have to secure longer-term contracts for our players. It is really difficult, and I know there was a massively difficult situation with Illy and Sander.

“We can't, as a club, allow players to run their contracts down. We couldn’t allow Jayden to run his contract down and I think everybody understands that now. It’s a different attitude and a different approach now, I’d like to think, securing our young players because of the number of them we have in the building. And the assets we’ve got now; it is really important from a financial point of view that we protect ourselves.

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“We've put a lot of work into Anel. It was a great signing, I was with Paul Mitchell yesterday and we talked about it, it was great from his and Paul Heckingbottom’s point of view. He’s been outstanding. The price the club paid for him, around £3m, was an absolute steal and his market value has got to be three or four times that now.

“So the work we’ve done as a football club and the work Anel's done is really key. I'm sure he's enjoying his football but we don’t know what’s around the corner, so we’ll wait and see. But he's someone we'd like to build around and I’m sure we’ll have that opportunity, especially if we get to where we want to be come the end of the season.”