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