“Excited” – Sheffield United Attacking Midfielder on Working With New Manager; Ready to Use Play-off Loss As Fuel | OneFootball

Sheffield United midfielder Callum O’Hare has spoken to BBC Radio Sheffield as the Blades continue their preparations for the 2025/26 Championship season under new head coach Ruben Selles.

After joining the club last summer, O’Hare made a strong impression in his debut campaign, making 47 appearances, netting four goals and providing six assists, but like many of his teammates, the pain of falling just short in the Championship play-off final still lingers.

Now, as United gear up for another promotion push, O’Hare believes the squad is in a good place both mentally and physically to take the next step.

“Yeah it’s been really good. Really enjoyable,” O’Hare said, reflecting on pre-season so far. “The team has bonded a bit and the new players coming in. The sessions have been really good, everyone’s enjoying it. It’s been tough like pre-season should be, but a really good week so far.”

New signings are always a common feature of a pre-season, and the Blades have the likes of Jefferson Caceres, Christian Nwachukwu and Ehije Success Ukaki training in Spain, as well as loanee Tyler Bindon. O’Hare spoke about how easily  the new arrivals have been integrated into the group.

“It’s quite easy here [for a new player to fit in]. All the lads are top lads, so everyone brings everyone in quite comfortably. And everyone that’s new has settled in quite comfortably,” he explained.

“Away from the pitch, you need everyone to get along and on the pitch it’s work time – and here it’s a good mix of both.”

Callum O’Hare on Adapting to New Sheffield United Manager And Coaching Staff

Ruben Selles instructing Sheffield United players in training session. (Image Credit: Sheffield United Football Club – X.com).

With Selles replacing Chris Wilder during the summer, O’Hare is enthusiastic about what the former Southampton, Reading and Hull City boss is bringing to the club.

“Really good,” he said when asked about the new manager. “They’ve got their own ideas of what they want, and they’re trying to instill that into us. So every day on the training pitch we’re working really hard, and they’re telling us what they want us to do. It’s been really enjoyable, I’m excited.”

Despite the change in management, O’Hare says the transition has been smooth. “It happened over the summer, so when we came back in it was normal and straight back to work,” he said. “Like I just said, they’ve got their beliefs and we’re training now to install that into us. We need to know everything off by heart for game time and then we’re ready to go.”

O’Hare Wants Blades to Use Last Season’s Play-off Heartbreak As Fuel

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 01: Callum O’Hare of Sheffield United and Tom Dele-Bashiru of Watford compete for the ball during the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield United FC and Watford FC at Bramall Lane on September 01, 2024 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

Last season’s near miss at Wembley could be a heavy burden for some, but O’Hare believes it will only drive the team harder this time around.

“We know what it feels like now to go all the way and not get there so this season we need to be even more on it to make sure that we are the ones to go up,” he said. “Leeds are a really top team but so are we, so we can look at [Leeds going up as champions after suffering play-off misery in the previous campaign] and do what they did.”

On a personal level, O’Hare is using his first year at Bramall Lane as a platform to push on further.

“It was good, I played a lot of games but like you said, it ended in disappointment and we didn’t get the objective that we wanted,” he admitted. “It was really disappointing and personally I know I can do better to really stamp my authority on games.”