Opinion: Why now is the perfect time for a ‘changing of the guard’ at Bramall Lane
Whilst there has been some talk about who the Blades might be bringing in during the summer, there’s not been a lot of talk about who the club might potentially lose.
Well, let’s change that now.
If you take a look at the Sheffield United squad as it is, you can see that there are a number of players whose contracts are set to expire in the next few months, that is also factoring into the equation the new proposals regarding player contracts amidst the uncertain end to the season.
Whilst a lot of those deals are loan deals, such as those with Dean Henderson, there are a few more players who are going to be out of contract, save for John Lundstram where the general consensus appears to be that he will be a Blade by hook or by crook.
That means that the likes of Jack Rodwell, Phil Jagielka, Kieran Freeman and Leon Clarke amongst others face the prospect of being without a contract, and the question now remains how many of them should we be looking at keeping?
Should these players with expiring contracts be released or kept?
In all honesty, I can’t see there being much use for some of these players going forward into next season. Whilst I have stressed in the past about the idea of keeping a good core of players together moving forward, I do think that there needs to be a changing of the guard at some point.
Whilst they might be of some use to us as ‘reserve’ or ‘rotation’ players, filling in during cup games against lower league opponents for instance, when you look at the age of some of these players, Jagielka being 37 for instance, I’d much rather those opportunities go to young players in the squad.
What about you? Do you think it’s right that the club should let these players go? Or would you rather keep them around and use them on a very limited basis?