How Tommy Doyle set the Sheffield United template with Man City loan ahead of potential Wolves reunion

Tommy Doyle's time at Sheffield United helped set the template for future loans at Bramall Lane, ahead of his latest reunion with his former club this weekend. Manchester City man Doyle helped United reach the Premier League and semi-finals of the FA Cup last season, before moving to Wolves in the summer.

The England U21 international was keen to return to South Yorkshire in the summer but City were keen to recoup some of their investment in their young starlet, with the Wolves deal including an option to buy in the summer. United instead signed James McAtee for a second spell at Bramall Lane and the two pals could go head-to-head this weekend when the Blades travel to Molineux.

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Doyle and McAtee were the latest in a long line of successful loanees for the Blades, with the likes of Dean Henderson and Morgan Gibbs-White using their time with the club to advance their own careers and make big-money moves. But the key was that all of the successful ones, including Doyle, fully bought into what happened in South Yorkshire and did not simply see themselves as loan players here for the short term.

"One hundred per cent," Blades boss Chris Wilder agreed. "You look at the likes of McAtee who wanted to come here this season and had options as well. I think Tommy Doyle would have liked the opportunity of coming back as well. We still keep in contact with a lot of the boys who spent time here on loan.

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"The way they get looked after here, the way they get appreciated by the supporters ... it's the whole package. They have to buy into it as well. When I played you could go on a month's loan. Now really most of the time it's a season-long loan, with a break in January, but not many. So you have to make sure you get it right.

"You see players who play for a month and play and everything's great and then in the second month they don't get in the team for one reason or another and they start looking and wishing they were back at their parent club. Now they're here for nine months so they've got to buy in. First and foremost that initial conversation has got to be bang on: them knowing what they're coming into, and us knowing what we're getting."

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The success of Doyle and Co. can also have the knock-on effect of highlighting United as a desirable destination in the future - not just for clubs who are keen to ensure that their best young talent is well looked after, but for the players themselves. "All of our presentations to future loanees will have those players' names on it and what it's done for their career," Wilder added.

"One of the first things Pep Guardiola said when we walked off the pitch at Man City was about how Macca is doing and they were delighted with how he's going on. He's seen a different side to the game to what he'd be doing at Man City, but he's still producing performances and he can only better his career. When you've got the likes of Pep talking in that way about the loan and how he's looking at it from their point of view, it's good.

"They're locked in for you. I know there's a little bit of talk about 'He's only a loan player' but you've seen enough examples - I don't think Dean Henderson when we went up in 2019 acted as if he was just another loan player. He was well and truly a Sheffield United player through that season and enjoyed everything that came with the promotion and the rewards."