BT Sport pundit and former West Ham and England defender, Rio Ferdinand, believes Chris Wilder will be ‘frustrated’ with the lack of investment in his Sheffield United team.
Despite spending decent chunks of money on a few players like Sander Berge, Rhian Brewster, and Oli McBurnie, Wilder has mainly had to fish in a smaller pond due to wage restrictions at the club.
And while those restrictions will be in place to safeguard the club’s future and not send the Blades into financial turmoil, it is proving costly in itself this season.
Ferdinand, who was speaking for BT Sport last night, claimed that Wilder will be ‘frustrated’ and believes the Blades have built a team capable of trying to get back up from the Championship, rather than stay in the PL.
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“That’s a team that will be able to come back up from the Championship. They’ll be able to to live in there and get back up, which is a business model in itself,” Ferdinand said prior to United’s 3-0 loss to West Ham.
“But it’s not a team that’s been invested in with the idea that they’re going to stay in the Premier League. And I think that’s where the frustration lies with Chris Wilder.”
Sheffield United did need to up the ante with spending, but injuries and form have also cost them
It’s well documented by the local press that United missed out on some of Wilder’s supposedly preferred targets. Ollie Watkins and Matty Cash both ended up at Aston Villa, while in January, Jesse Lingard went to West Ham.
But aside from just spending, injuries have ravaged United this season as well.
Nobody could predict that O’Connell, Berge, and Fleck would miss big chunks if not all of the season. Other players have been in and out too, such as Enda Stevens, George Baldock, and Oli McBurnie.
Those injuries, coupled with a dramatic loss of form for some of those mentioned and others, has created the perfect storm for failure this term at Bramall Lane.
Chris Wilder has got some right and some wrong with his spending. He’ll probably admit that himself deep down. But while it’s an issue that’s held the club back a tad, mitigating factors such as injury, form, and individual error have been just as big an issue.
