Opinion: Why Sheffield United must consider selling key man following Nottingham Forest loss | OneFootball

Championship outfit Sheffield United can now ramp up their preparations for the summer following their defeat to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night, a result that has consigned them to another season in the second tier.

With that, Morgan Gibbs-White is less likely to return to Bramall Lane with the England youth international shining throughout the season and this will be a big blow considering how integral the Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee has been to the Blades’ cause during the 2021/22 campaign.

And unfortunately, they may even need to look at moving on some of their permanent players as they look to abide by the EFL’s profitability and sustainability rules, something that will enable them to continue operating freely in the transfer market.

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Although it could be argued that they have already done enough to stay within the rules following two windows of very limited spending, only forking out on a transfer fee for Adam Davies, their wage bill could still be reasonably high at this stage.

Thankfully for them, last summer’s sale of Aaron Ramsdale may help to compensate for that, with the shot-stopper being heavily linked with a move away from South Yorkshire before finally sealing his departure.

Another man that was linked with a transfer throughout most of last summer was Sander Berge, who joined the Blades for a reported £22m back in January 2020 but has failed to make the impact he would have wanted to.

Injuries have played a part in that and in fairness to the Norwegian, he has been classy at times this season, doing enough to put himself in the shop window ahead of the summer.

Many of the second-tier side’s supporters will see Berge as a key figure in getting United back to the Premier League at the second time of asking and this is why they will want to retain him – but with his contract expiring in 2024 – this upcoming window may be their last chance to generate a sizeable fee for his services.

Although he may sign fresh terms at Bramall Lane if they are promoted at the end of next season, there are no guarantees they will secure another finish in the promotion mix and this is why they should be more open to offers for his services this year.

However, they should only sell him on one condition. If the second-tier outfit’s board are willing to reinvest a decent chunk of that money back into the playing squad, something that will give Paul Heckingbottom the chance to put his stamp on the squad, then they should be willing to move the 24-year-old on.

If they aren’t willing to do that though, the hierarchy has a duty to retain him because they didn’t reinvest the Ramsdale fee back into Slavisa Jokanovic’s transfer budget.

Although that initial £24m fee could have been used to block out losses, the fact they have this money and are receiving parachute payments gives them no excuses not to give Heckingbottom the revenue produced from the midfielder’s potential sale.