Exclusive: Sky Sports pundit raises Ben Godfrey "concern" as Sheffield United plot move | OneFootball

Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman reveals to hold slight concerns about Sheffield United target Ben Godfrey.

Sheffield United are in the market for a new centre-back, but Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman has expressed his doubts over the potential signing of Ben Godfrey.

Sheffield United are preparing for another season in the Championship after narrowly missing out on the automatic position to Leeds and Burnley, before then falling short at Wembley to Sunderland in the playoff final.

Since then, ex-manager Chris Wilder has left the club and been replaced by former Reading and Hull City boss Ruben Selles, whilst Vinicius Souza, Anel Ahmedhodzic, Kieffer Moore and Rhian Brewster, who managed 166 appearances across all competitions for the club last season, have left the club.

Ahmedhodzic has moved to Dutch giants Feyenoord in a deal worth a reported £15.6 million, and the Blades are looking to replace the Bosnian international with Atalanta defender Ben Godfrey.

Godfrey, 27, spent the second half of last season on loan with Ipswich in the Premier League after struggling for game time in Italy, with Sheffield United having made an approach to sign the former Norwich and Everton man.

"He hasn't really played a lot of football," says Sky Sports pundit

Since the beginning of the 2022/23 season, when Godfrey was still at Everton, he has made just 41 appearances across all competitions in three years.

"Obviously Sheffield do, having lost Anel Ahmedhodzic, need to sign a central defender. I was really surprised to see that Ben Godfrey is now 27 years old," Goodman exclusively told Football League World.

"He had a full and injury-free season at Norwich when he broke through and got his move to Everton. The first couple of seasons there went well, and from that moment he hasn't really played a lot of football, certainly over the last three years, really, which is a little bit of a concern.

"If Sheffield United can get the Ben Godfrey that broke through at Norwich and had a couple of decent seasons at the start of his Everton career, that would be good, but the slight concern is that he hasn't played an awful lot of football over the last few seasons."

Ben Godfrey signing would be a slight risk for Sheffield United

With last season's promotion heartbreak still looming over them, the Blades will be desperate to rewrite their wrongs of last campaign.

Having lost key players such as Souza and Ahmedhodzic, Sheffield United have brought in Djibril Soumare on-loan from Portuguese side Braga and Tyler Bindon on-loan from Nottingham Forest, who played under Selles at Reading.

Elsewhere, forward Louie Barry joins on-loan from Aston Villa, whilst Ehije Ukaki and Mihael Polendakov join on permanent deals from the Bulgarian league.

Harry Souttar's and Rob Holding's loan deals from Leicester and Crystal Palace expired following the end of last season, so strengthening the back line will be high up on Selles' to-do list.

Godfrey, though having not played many games over the past few years, still possesses a great deal of quality, and if Sheffield United manage to strike a deal with Atalanta, who themselves signed the Englishman for £10 million last summer, then it could be a bargain, should he remain fit.

However, lingering doubts remain about whether Godfrey can bring the required consistency and quality that Selles will be after in order to push for promotion once again, which must be the aim for the Blades.