Why Sheffield United chief has “no regrets” over Iliman Ndiaye sale after transfer verdict

Stephen Bettis, the Sheffield United chief executive, insists he has “no regrets” about losing star man Iliman Ndiaye on the eve of the new Premier League season. The Blades chief instead believes United should be proud of developing the player before his £20m departure early last month.

Both Ndiaye and Sander Berge were sold close to the campaign’s big kick-off, with two eight-figure fees subsequently reinvested in Coventry City midfielder Gustavo Hamer and striker Cameron Archer, from Aston Villa. The impact both new signings, who both scored on their Premier League debuts for the Blades, have had has mitigated much of the blow of losing Berge and Ndiaye.

But the loss of the latter, who many view as the club’s most talented footballer in decades, still rankles with some, despite the fact that he and Berge had entered the final year of their Bramall Lane deals and, as things stood, were set to walk away as free agents at the end of the current campaign.

United were close to agreeing a new deal with the Senegal international before a late U-turn from the player and speaking to local media at a Bramall Lane round-table yesterday, Bettis was asked if he had any regrets over losing Ndiaye. “Maybe supporters won’t like my answer but I don’t have regret,” Bettis said. “We got a player from Boreham Wood on a free, brought him through the ranks, gave him an opportunity, which he took, and we sold him for a lot of money.

“We have to accept that we’re not at the top of the tree and there are clubs more attractive than us. We have to accept we will lose players to bigger clubs and these challenges are going to come. We should be proud of what we achieved there. Not ashamed of it.

“We wanted to keep both players at the football club. The manager wanted them, the owner wanted them. We did everything to keep them. We worked tirelessly and did what we needed to from a contract and money perspective to keep Iliman. He decided that the pull of playing for Marseille in the Champions League was too big to turn down.

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“We got an offer from Burnley about five weeks before we sold Sander, and we turned it down immediately. We told them our valuation and they said there was no way they were paying that. We’re not a club who can let a player of Sander’s or Iliman’s value leave on a free transfer so we have to manage it carefully.

“We spoke to Sander about a one-year extension because he didn’t want to do a long-term contract. And then four or five weeks later Burnley came to us and made a new offer which we refused again. We then got three or four offers until they met our valuation, and we accepted, because we felt it was the right thing for the club after Sander said he didn’t wish to sign an extension.

United are far from the only club to have suffered in terms of losing their star player close to the start of the season, or risk losing him for nothing next summer. “Three days before the season started, Spurs sold Harry Kane,” Bettis added.

“We don’t control when offers come in or players’ reactions to that. We have good players here who clubs want to pay good money for. We should want that problem in more windows because it means we are doing our jobs well.”

Despite the window’s challenges, he sees the Blades’ summer business - which culminated in the deadline-day return of James McAtee, on loan from Manchester City - as a success. As well as Archer and Hamer, a number of young and unproven players in English football were recruited as the Blades looked to plug the hole in the dressing room left by the likes of Billy Sharp, Enda Stevens and Jack O’Connell.

“Personally I would,” said Bettis, when asked if he viewed the transfer window as a successful one. “We’d have loved to get our business done sooner, everyone’s agreed on that but I don’t put the blame for that at our door. That’s just the way it works sometimes.

“We’ve done some good business, brought in some really young talented players on long contracts that have value for the football club in the future. We’re set up in a way that we can push on next season if we’re hopefully in the Premier League, and if we’re in the Championship we’re in a really good position to hopefully bounce back up again.”