Paul Heckingbottom admits there is ‘nothing’ Sheffield United could do to prevent Sander Berge from leaving if Premier League outfit Leeds trigger his release clause, speaking to Yorkshire Live.
It’s difficult to know exactly how to feel about Leeds’ summer.
On one hand, a side who avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth last term have successfully added three very exciting players – Rasmus Kristensen, Brenden Aaronson and Marc Roca – to their paper-thin squad. There are further deals in the works too.
But, on the other, Jesse Marsch will almost certainly begin his first full season as Leeds boss without either Kalvin Phillips or Raphinha; Arguably the club’s most impressive performers since their return to the Premier League in 2020.
Could Sander Berge take Kalvin Phillips’ place at Leeds United?
Phillips has agreed a move to Manchester City. According to GiveMeSport, 6ft 4ins Norway international Berge has been lined up as a potential successor, even if he wouldn’t be a like-for-like successor for Leeds’ so-called ‘Yorkshire Pirlo’.
Reports last week claimed that Berge has a £35 million release clause in his Sheffield United contract. And the existence of such a clause has now been confirmed by a man who spent a brief and unsuccessful stint in the Elland Road dugout before the spellbinding Marcelo Bielsa arrived to turn pumpkins into carriages, average Championship players into great ones.
“I think it’s been well documented he has a release clause,” says Heckingbottom. “That’s it, simple. There’s nothing I can do about it. It takes care of itself, that situation.
“I don’t mind that because it’s sometimes easier and straightforward. The only problem with release clauses is when they get activated.”
£35 million; Worth it?
Should the much-coveted Raphinha follow Phillips out the door, Leeds could have around £100 million to play with between now and the August deadline. It remains to be seen, however, if they are willing to invest a third of that on a player who endured a bit of a mixed bag in the Championship last term.
“I had a chat with him at the end of last season. As I said, there’s more to come from him in my eyes,” Heckingbottom says of Berge.
“We have got him to a position where it felt like he was going to score every time he went on to the pitch and he got at least two chances a game in the last half-a- dozen games or so.
“I think that is something we can really develop and push and grow. He’s never been known as a goalscorer. He’s still learning the art of it and the one thing that he did improve on was getting in the box and his goals were generally pretty close.
“One thing we can improve further on is his shots from distance because he has a hell of a strike. I think we can really improve that. They are the conversations we want to have with him.”
Berge is a more box-to-box player than the deep-lying Phillips. Perhaps he could play as a roving number eight under Marsch, with Roca sitting back.
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