Sheffield United: How friendly v “strong” Leicester City's World Cup stars prepared Sander Berge for Championship action

The Norwegian international’s return is especially welcome for the Blades as they look to consolidate their promotion push, after going five points clear of third-placed Blackburn Rovers at the halfway point of the Championship season.

After a cameo off the bench against Huddersfield Town, Berge then played over three quarters of a behind-closed-doors game against Premier League side Leicester City to step up his fitness levels. The Foxes’ side was at full-strength minus James Maddison, granted extra leave after his World Cup campaign with England, and featured stars of Qatar including Youri Tielemans and Timothy Castagne.

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“I’ve waited for quite a while now and the World Cup came at a good time for the injury,” Berge told SUTV. “I worked hard to come back. I’m a little bit rusty but when I get that out of my body, we'll be good.

“With every injury period you work hard to get back as soon as possible, it's about being patient during the period. It's a balance, obviously. I wanted to go as fast as possible but luckily I had time with the break so it's nice to be back and get some minutes.

“Playing against Leicester was good. It was key, and came at a really good time. It was perfect for me to have time between Huddersfield and Wigan to play a big part in that game. I played about 70 or 75 minutes against a really strong side, to get the legs going and find rhythm again. It was perfect.”

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Chris Basham, Jayden Bogle and Max Lowe also got some much-needed minutes against the Foxes, while a number of the Blades’ U21 players obtained some valuable experience against the likes of Tielemans, Castagne and Sheffield-born former England international Jamie Vardy.

“The Leicester team was strong,” United boss Paul Heckingbottom said. “Our under-21s, when we made subs, had a chance to play against Premier League players. It was a really worthwhile exercise.”

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