The Sheffield United squad is among the oldest in the Championship.
Working out the average age of a squad member for all 24 clubs reveals that only three other sides have older players.
The Blades are joint fourth on the list with an average age of 27.3 years old alongside West Bromwich Albion. Only Stoke City (27.4), Middlesbrough (27.9) and Bolton Wanderers (28.5) rank higher.
In contrast, United’s great rivals Sheffield Wednesday are in 13th place with an average age of 26. At the other end of the list are Brentford, who have the division’s youngest squad with an average age of just 24.
United’s oldest players
The Blades have nine players aged 30 or older. Their oldest are Leon Clarke and Mark Duffy, whom are both 33 years old. Clarke is now less than a month away from his 34th birthday.
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Captain Billy Sharp and defenders Martin Cranie and Jake Wright are all 32, while Richard Stearman and David McGoldrick are both 31.
Finally, Chris Basham and Paul Coutts (both 30) make up the core of players now in their 30s.
At the opposite end of things, the only teenager in Chris Wilder’s squad is set to leave. The Liverpool Echo reports that 19-year-old Ben Woodburn has been recalled early from his loan spell by Liverpool.
This means that the youngest players now at United are also both loanees. Goalkeeper Dean Henderson and new signing Kieran Dowell are 21.
Only four others are under the age of 25. Third choice stopper Jake Eastwood and Kean Bryan are 22, while Jack O’Connell and John Lundstram are both 24.
Experience is clearly serving the Blades well as they currently sit third in the table going into today’s league clash with QPR.
However, if they were to be promoted Wilder would probably have to carefully assess who is cut out for Premier League football. And perhaps also inject some youth into the squad.