The Sheffield United manager handed Regan Slater his league debut last weekend.
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has stressed the need for January reinforcements after admitting that one player who featured in last weekend’s defeat at Preston North End should be ‘nowhere near’ the Blades’ first team.
Wilder handed Regan Slater his Football League debut at Deepdale, where the 17-year-old played the final 15 minutes.
It arrived in the absence of key midfield duo Paul Coutts and John Fleck, who are out with a broken leg and through suspension, respectively.
And Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield that while he ‘thinks the world’ of Slater, he would not have been exposed to United’s first team otherwise.
“He’s obviously propelled himself into the reckoning through other situations,” said the 50-year-old of the Blades’ academy captain. “I’ve got to say, if we want to be a top Championship club, Regan shouldn’t be in and around our first team at the moment. But he is for various reasons.
“That’s no disrespect to Regan. We think the world of him. He’s a local boy, he puts his foot in and he can play- characteristics I think if anybody knows what I’m about, or what I want this team to be about, he possesses.
Wilder added: “He can be proud of his progression and he needs to keep going. He really shouldn’t be around our first team. But he is. And If he gains experience and moves his career forward then that’s great for us.”
Wilder, who confirmed that Sheffield United remain in negotiations over the transfer of Southend United midfielder Ryan Leonard, admitted his side are probably a ‘one or two’ short in that department.
The Blades will drop out of the Championship’s top six if they lose at Aston Villa and Leeds United collect at least a point at home to Hull City this weekend.
Both Ipswich Town and Preston can also overtake Wilder’s men with victories.
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