Sheffield United: Duo are told they can go on to become Bramall Lane legends despite slow starts

Speaking ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s visit to Cardiff City, where he hopes the two most expensive signings in the Championship club’s history will both feature on the team sheet, new manager Paul Heckingbottom insisted Berge and Brewster possess the quality required to not only cement places in his starting even but also the hearts of supporters as well.

Berge, who until Brewster’s £23.5m move from Liverpool last season was South Yorkshire’s biggest ever footballing outlay, has spent long periods of his career with United on the treatment table. The midfielder’s team mate went 10 months without scoring a goal after leaving Anfield but has now netted twice in three outings.

“Everyone can see the talent Rhi and Sander have got. They’ve come to the club at a tough time but they’ll be stronger players for it, when things pick up."

Heckingbottom enjoyed a spell in caretaker charge of United last season, stage-managing their exit from the Premier League following Chris Wilder’s departure. He was handed the reins again, this time on a permanent basis, last week when Wilder’s successor Slavisa Jokanovic was sacked amid a cycle of chequered results and differences of opinion with the board of directors.

Although Brewster insisted yesterday that he has never entertained the idea of leaving United, Berge, a £22m purchase from Genk nearly two years ago, is understood to have been less than enamoured about the prospect of playing second tier football when relegation was confirmed. The Norwegian’s future could depend not only on any interested party’s willingness to meet United’s asking price - or at least come close to it - but also whether or not he signals determination to stay.

Berge made his return from injury during last weekend’s win over Bristol City, while Brewster is close to recovering from a hamstring problem sustained after scoring the opener against Nigel Pearson’s side.

With that result lifting United to 13th in the table, Heckingbottom said: “There were lots of things spoken about when I first came in but the one thing I wanted to talk about was this season.”