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Opinion: Latest ruling gives Sheffield United the perfect opportunity to look to the future

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Looking out for the long-term on this one.

I’ve stated before that the situation surrounding players having their contracts extended could prove beneficial to the likes of Panos Retsos and Richairo Živković, as they seek some extra minutes to try and prove why they should come back next season.

Well now a new situation has arisen, and it could prove very beneficial to a certain subsection of the Sheffield United squad.

News came out on Friday that stated the remainder of the academy games up and down the country will be scrapped for the rest of the season, meaning that young players will have no more football left to play until the next campaign.

Or will they?

When you consider that FIFA have put forward the idea of teams using five substitutes for the remainder of the season to deal with fixture congestion, combined with there now being a lot more players to choose from, and Sheffield United can very much use this situation to their advantage.

When you consider the amount of talent that has come through the academy at Bramall Lane in recent years, it’s clear to see that we have a good system in place to produce some quality players, and this situation could provide us with an excellent opportunity to give those up and comers the developmental minutes they need that could help set them on their way.

Should the club be utilising more of our young players next season?

Yes

Yes

No

No

Whilst we have done an incredible job with the team that we’ve put out so far this season, with the potential of playing so many games in a short space of time to get the season finished, the chance of injuries is only going to go up.

So if it comes in the form of substitutions to give senior players an extra bit of rest, or as backups if something more serious were to happen, I think that bringing in the academy players is a win-win situation for a team like Sheffield United.

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  • Andy Brown says:

    You are an absolute clown.

    Pathetic journalism. You are an embarrassment.

    Which Academy players? You’ve no idea.

    Now they are available?? They are always available you moron.

    Liverpool, Man U, Wolves, City, Arsenal, Chelsea have played 3 games a week all season. Why the fuck would we all of a sudden play Academy players in the premier league.

    Stop writing about shit you know nothing about!

    • Matthew Baldwin says:

      They may not have had the chance up until they’ve had to focus on their own games as well. Now that all attention at the club is going to be focused on the first-team, it could give them the opportunity. I’m not saying that on the final day of the season we just send out all of the U23s with the U18s on the bench, but just the odd one here and there.

      When it comes to which ones in particular, I’ve been impressed with Reece York and the amount of goals he’s been scoring, I wouldn’t mind seeing him closer to the first-team. He’d probably be my first port of call, but again you’ve got the lot of them available now and with the rules looking like they might offer more flexibility, I think it’s an avenue worth exploring.

      • Andy Brown says:

        You have missed the point entirely, they are always available to the first team! If they were good enough they would have been around the first team already! A clear example of this is David Brooks! Who else has been given a chance since? Nobody! Why? Because they aren’t good enough! Ffs.

    • Sparrow says:

      Your use of vulgar language makes anything you have to say of no value – which it is anyway.

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