Sheffield United's transfer and pre-season plans

The Star, Sheffield

The Star's Danny Hall discusses the weeks ahead for Sheffield United as everyone comes to terms with the exit of Chris Wilder and the arrival of Ruben Selles

Transcript

00:00So Danny, we've got a new manager in place. The old manager's gone.

00:07It leaves a few things up in the air in terms of transfers because we know that Chris Wilder had

00:12set his sights on a number of players. A couple of them have actually already gone to other clubs

00:17or stayed at the club that they were at. Plus we've got pre-season and everything else to go at.

00:26What's the land of the club so far? What's the timeline over the next three or four weeks?

00:35Yeah, dearie me, where do we start? So yeah, your first point about transfers, Chris had a

00:43pretty definitive list of players that he was hoping to bring in this summer. Harry Darling was

00:47one of them as we as we wrote about in the star, excuse me, made a lot of sense, championship

00:53experience, free agent, good age, ball playing centre-half, all that sort of stuff. You can

01:00see exactly why he would have been a priority signing. But with the uncertainty, Chris couldn't,

01:08nobody could guarantee what was going to happen. So Harry, understandably for his career,

01:12has gone to Norwich City, where he's got a three-year deal with a manager he knows well.

01:16So United missed out there. Jimmy Dunn was another one that looked pretty nailed on signing after

01:22they tried to sign him in January. QPR held firm. For all the world looked like he would move on this

01:28summer. Our information is that there was a disagreement about whether he would be a worthwhile

01:36signing and he's ended up staying at QPR. No doubt with a hefty pay rising there as well. So who

01:43can, who can criticise him for that? But yeah, as we stand, there's been no, as I said, no signings,

01:49no senior signings, obviously signed. The boy, Okaki from Bulgaria, who, you know, I'll admit,

01:57I don't know a great deal about. You'd imagine that, or you'd hope that the people who signed him

02:02know a lot more about him. But I think that's seen as very much a development signing in the mould

02:08of the other two who arrived in the winter window. But I think it's really important to

02:15sort of almost separate the two sides of it, isn't it? It's all right signing these players

02:20for development purposes or for development squads. You've got to keep sight of the here and

02:25now avenue and not lose sight of what is ultimately really important. And that is getting Sheffield United

02:31into the Premier League sooner rather than later. So they need to almost separate the two aspects

02:38of transfers, I think. Focus on some players for the here and now and some for the future,

02:44as they did in January, signing five players for the first team and two for the development squad.

02:51But yeah, Ruben's got to hit the ground running, hasn't it? Because the season,

02:54the fixtures are out in a week. Pre-season starts in less than a fortnight as it stands.

02:58You know, we've got some friendlies coming up to hopefully get ready for the season. A trip away

03:04to Girona, which I think will be important for him to live in the pockets of his players and the

03:09other way around as well for a week or so, get to know the staff, get to know the methods and really

03:14sort of drill into what he wants to do. Because as I say, it's quite a departure from the style that

03:19a lot of these players will be used to. And that's not saying one's right and one's wrong. It's

03:23just a change in approach and how they want to go about things. So I think that will be important

03:29to really drill into that. And yeah, obviously, you know, as it stands, six players went back,

03:36lone players. We still don't know whether Rhian Brewster is going to re-sign. Jack Robinson signed

03:42for another year and El Admin Hodges in his last year. So there's two senior centre-halves at the minute,

03:47both in the last year of the contract. So there's an obvious sort of succession plan need there.

03:54Right back is another area. You know, there's Femi Siriki there. There's

03:58Sy Satchdesk going back from his injury. Sam Colchin's a highly rated young player.

04:02But I think you need someone in there who's a little bit more sort of hardened

04:05championship football. Midfield's another one, obviously, with Hamza Chaudhry going back.

04:11Uncertainty about Vinnie Souza, I think that's fair to say. Olly Arblaster coming back from injury.

04:15You know, I think he'll probably do with a body or two in there. And then I guess it all depends

04:20how Ruben is going to play it. You know, last season, we saw a transition to wingers.

04:25He's played a sort of narrower formation with attacking fullbacks in his last couple of jobs.

04:30Will he continue that? Will he change it up at Bama Lane? Will he look at what he's got and

04:34adapt to that? Or will he suit what he has to how he wants to play? That's another sort of question mark

04:39in the air. There's a lot we don't know. There's a lot of things in his, it's that cliche,

04:44isn't it? But in his entry, as he starts at Bama Lane, there's a lot of things that he has to

04:49figure out. And United have got to figure out about him as well. So, yeah, there's a lot of

04:54uncertainty. But, you know, as you said, time's ticking, isn't it? I'm just looking at the time

04:58there and the date, you know, that August 8th start date of the new season will come around

05:04very quickly, won't it? United were a month behind, a month or so behind everyone else,

05:08or three weeks or so behind everyone else going with the playoffs. So they've had a bit more time to

05:13plan. Yeah, and they have to get going, don't they? Because, you know, the rest of the league won't,

05:19they won't sort of feel sorry for United or give them any leeway for what's happened with the turmoil.

05:24They'll be looking to, they'll be looking at themselves and their own sort of

05:29season hopes and dreams, and they'll be focusing on themselves. So United have got to do that.

05:33What I will say is that he walks into Ruben Seles a really good group, isn't he? You know,

05:38it doesn't seem to need a great deal of sort of surgery. I look back to last year when,

05:48look back to last year when that last pre-season friendly at Huddersfield, when Chris had basically

05:53an under-21 team to sort of work with, and he was incredibly frustrated about what, you know,

05:58the sort of pace of transfers and stuff like that. And that was a week before the start of the season.

06:02This time the group is a little bit more settled, a little bit of uncertainty about what's going to

06:07happen to some key players, you know, whether there's interest in Gus Harmer and Anel, Amir Hodzic

06:11and Vinnie Souza and, you know, that sort of narrative. But I think things are a lot more

06:16settled this season. I think it's a better base to sort of work from for him to go from. I'm sure

06:21we just want to put his stamp on things, maybe change a few things around, tweak a few things,

06:25bring a few players in, perhaps move a few out who are not going to be a part of his plans.

06:31And then, yeah, we'll see what happens from there. So yeah, he's got a busy six weeks or so,

06:36I think, for the start of the season.

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