Sander Berge is perhaps more prepared than most Sheffield United players for the current quarantine.
People in the UK are being encouraged to stay indoors and only go out for essential trips such as food showing. It is in an effort to try and combat the coronavirus pandemic.
For footballers that is no different, with the Blades having sent their first team squad home from training on March 23.
The players are now having to train and stay fit on their own. The backroom staff are still checking in on them using video conferencing tools.
For someone like Sander Berge, this new regime might be tougher than it is for most. Berge only made his club record £22m switch to England towards the end of the January transfer window.
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The Norway international has never lived in the UK before. Yet less than two months into his new life and the midfielder is alone in a new house, in a new city, in a new country.
Why Berge is actually better prepared than many United teammates
(Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
But Berge has pointed out that before quarantine was imposed on society, he was actually used to spending lots of time alone.
Before moving to Bramall Lane, the 22-year-old spent three years in Belgium with Genk. Berge has already experienced being away from his friends and family and getting accustomed to being on his own.
“This would be tough if it was my first adventure outside Norway,” the Norwegian told SUTV.
“But for 34 or 35 months in the last three years I’ve been alone in Belgium. OK, I have family and friends for certain games, I’ve been with the national team and I had some holidays, but mostly I’ve been alone.
“I know how to keep myself busy and luckily I’m enjoying my own company. Otherwise it would be difficult.
“I’m making sure I’m busy with something.”
The Blades have surprisingly few foreign players in their squad, but for the others they might empathise with Berge.
Lys Mousset, for example, left his native France for the first time in 2016 when he joined Bournemouth. Greece international Panos Retsos was with Bayer Leverkusen from 2017 until he moved to United on loan in January.
Dutchman Richairo Zivkovic was in China with Changchun Yatai for 11 months before making the switch to South Yorkshire. Zivkovic’s fellow countryman Michael Verrips, like Berge, was in Belgium before coming to the Premier League.
German-born Mo Besic has been away from the nation since 2012, while Republic of Ireland duo John Egan and Enda Stevens have spent the majority of their playing careers in England.
