Sheffield United make moves over key duo’s future as Chris Wilder confirms transfer interest ahead of deadline day
Sheffield United make moves over key duo’s future as Chris Wilder confirms transfer interest ahead of deadline day
Sheffield United have fielded interest in starlet Andre Brooks from elsewhere, manager Chris Wilder has confirmed, as the Blades look to tie down some more of their exciting young players to new deals. Club Brugge were this week linked with the 22-year-old winger.
Fellow academy graduate Femi Seriki has also been the subject of speculation, with Everton said to be monitoring his situation as a potential alternative to Genoa’s Brooke Norton-Cuffy. Both players are inside the danger zone of the last 18 months of their contracts, leaving United potentially vulnerable to rival clubs.
For his part Wilder appeared relaxed about the speculation ahead of Monday’s transfer deadline, insisting that it means both the players and United are doing something right. “There are links with a lot of our young players.
“I'm not going to come out and talk about stuff in terms of bids. There's been interest in a lot of our young players as well. That's why I'm going back to how important the academy is, whether they play first team games or whether their value goes up.
“I've always said the most important thing is that the team wins. The club understands, from my point of view, that no player's value goes down in a winning team. Last year, and this isn’t through rose-tinted glasses, I think we had £100 million worth of assets at our football club. Because we won. So we have to get that right.
Sheffield United make moves over key duo’s future as Chris Wilder confirms transfer interest ahead of deadline day
“When those boys play or their value rises, it only benefits the club and the direction that it's going in. There’s interest, yes, of course. I'm glad that there’s interest. But then, I go back to the fact that I want to build. I want to build a decent side.
“We're getting there.I think you saw in the performance on Saturday. There is, at times, a touch of inconsistency with it all, which frustrates me. But we're going in the right direction and we're building through these young players, with four of them involved on Saturday. Blaster [Oliver Arblaster] would have been involved if he was up to speed, and I don't think anybody else has that sort of record in the Championship or even in the Premier League, where four young boys that have come through their academy are playing in the first team.
“I’m wanting to build, wanting to build a good team. Wanting to put value onto these players, wanting to win games of football. I want to go and win on Saturday [at Millwall], which we know is going to be a difficult task.”
Wilder later confirmed to The Star that he has flagged the situations with Brooks and Seriki’s contracts to the Bramall Lane board. “Yeah, I’m speaking to Steve [Bettis, chief executive] this morning about that,” he said.
“I don’t know if my line is bugged or something ... I’ll have to check with the IT and the comms guys! But we’ve talked about doing the training ground and going Category One in the academy.
“Young players coming through can save us money as they rack up the appearances, or they reach a point where they move on and you have to shake their hand. But you shake their hand with a smile and wish them all the best, thank them for the contribution and wish them the best of luck going forward in the new challenge.
“But to tie these boys down and backing us to do the right things at the right time is important. Not tying boys down who we don't think are going to be good enough, and tying boys down who we think are of value in terms of appearances or in terms of valuation on the player.”