What Sheffield United's new boys haven't done at Bramall Lane

The trio’s presence at Bramall Lane ahead of Saturday’s game against Brighton and Hove Albion confirmed, after three seasons of largely domestic recruitment, that Wilder and his staff are now serious about exploiting the overseas transfer market.

Berge, a Norway international, became United’s record signing when he completed a £22m move from Genk during the closing stages of last month’s window while Retsos, a Greece international, joined on loan from Bayer Leverkusen. Zivkovic, once of Ajax, was also recruited on loan but, like Retsos, United have already brokered an agreement which could see him leave Changchun Yatai on a permanent basis this summer.

After watching them integrate with their new team mates during United’s training camp in Dubai - they returned to England over the weekend - Wilder said: “It's about value for money and quality over quantity, definitely. We're not used to it. It's a different ball game in the Premier League for Sheffield United, and we have to keep up.

“I've been immensely impressed with not only the ability of Sander and Richairo and Panos, but their desire and the way they conduct themselves, they're good people to go along with a good group of people we already have.

“It's all new to everybody but we have to not overpay but be ambitious and aggressive in our targets.”

Berge, who could make his third appearance for United against Graham Potter’s side, was initially identified as a potential acquisition by Jan Van Winckel; the Belgian who, after taking up a position with Saudi Arabia’s FA, now serves as owner HRH Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s footballing advisor on the board.

But Wilder, who was already aware of the midfielder’s qualities, explained he retains the final say on recruitment, working in tandem with chief executive Steve Bettis to try and thrash out the best deals possible.

Wilder exploited the information van Winckel was able to provide, gleaned from sources in his homeland about the 21-year-old’s contractual details, to accelerate negotiations after originally making contact during the close season.

“There will be a number Steve and Prince Abdullah will push to but the comfort they have is I work for the football club and we do treat it as if it's my own money,” Wilder said. “I'm not here for a year or two, which we've shown already, and there's an enormous amount of trust from the board to me and Steve that we'll do the right thing and tick the boxes we have to.”