Sheffield United must rue selling £5m ace who's ruining their title bid

Sheffield United supporters will hope their high-flying team has enough in the tank to go the distance in the automatic promotion battle in the Championship.

At the moment, it does look like that will be the case with Chris Wilder‘s Blades boasting a sizeable five-point buffer between themselves and Scott Parker’s Burnley, but the Clarets do have a game in hand on the South Yorkshire outfit to somewhat raise the anxiety levels.

Still, Wilder has been here before in attempting to get his team over the line to taste promotion glory up to the Premier League, with a whole host of key personnel making that dream a triumphant reality back in 2019.

Rather impressively, the much-loved 57-year-old has two promotions on his glittering managerial CV with United, with a third perhaps in reach very soon.

Until then, however, the most recent time the Blades have managed to secure top-flight football under Wilder was at the end of the 2018/19 season, with Billy Sharp coming up trumps across multiple tense games for his high-flying team.

Across that memorable season, the 39-year-old veteran would pick up 23 of his 130 career Championship goals to guide Wilder’s men to the big-time, further cementing himself into the Bramall Lane hall-of-fame.

But, it was very much a team effort that campaign that saw Premier League football be reached, with the likes of Jack O’Connell an absolute brick wall at the back with 17 clean sheets collected, whilst John Fleck was also loving life supplying chances to Sharp and Co with a stellar ten assists tallied up.

Wilder will know the entire collective in the here and now will need to sing off the same hymn sheet to clinch an instant return too, but there will be a concern in the air that the sale of another promotion hero is now ruining their title hopes.

Daniel Farke’s Whites were always going to be the overwhelming favourites to lift the second title aloft, having slipped up at the final hurdle last season in the Championship play-off final.

Amazingly, last time Wilder steered the Blades to that coveted second spot in the chaotic division, Farke was also sitting pretty at the top of the league with Norwich City, with history now looking likely to repeat itself.

Sadly, their chances of pipping their Yorkshire foes to the title were lessened severely when Joel Piroe fired home a late strike to beat United 3-1 late last month.

Away from this recent contest at Bramall Lane, however, the Blades have unexpectedly boosted their rivals further – by gifting them Jayden Bogle last summer.

Indeed, Bogle – who was part of the 2022/23 Blades promotion-winning team – became public enemy number one when defecting over to Elland Road for £5m, having been a loyal servant to the South Yorkshire outfit for many a season with 12 goals and four assists picked up from 103 contests.

As it happens, it took Bogle no time at all to get up to speed with things in his new location, with the “outstanding” full-back – as he was once lauded by Wilder – helping himself to six goal contributions as a forward-thinking asset, alongside also being defensively staunch and tough when needed with 16 clean sheets also in his grasp.

Whilst Leeds know exactly who to call upon in the right-back spot, the Blades have had some difficulties nailing down a consistent starter here, with Chelsea loanee Alfie Gilchrist often having to play here before the January addition of Harry Clarke.

Leeds have looked full of confidence in recent weeks with Bogle standing out, and whilst United have also been picking up wins for fun, it looks as if their old defender is Premier League-bound as a champion.

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