Chris Wilder has hinted at a first team place for David Brooks at Sheffield United amid reported interest from Everton.
Chris Wilder has been speaking about exciting Sheffield United prospect David Brooks amid increased speculation about the youngster’s future.
Wilder has been quite shrewd up until this point, avoiding talking about Brooks publicly in the knowledge that putting the spotlight on the 20-year-old will only make him a more desirable acquisition.
Northampton Town manager Chris Wilder
Yet with the Daily Mail reporting that Everton are seriously considering a move and that RB Leipzig are also keeping tabs, the Blades manager has had to change his approach slightly.
It is clear that the 49-year-old rates Brooks highly, cancelling a proposed loan move to Chesterfield in 2017/18 to give him the opportunity to try and break into the first team.
And after scoring the winner against the team he was supposed to join in United’s latest pre-season friendly – taking the ball from his own half before smashing it in – Wilder has hinted he could well be a big part of his plans in the Championship.
“It’s up to him [whether he’ll get into the starting XI],” Wilder told the Sheffield Star. “If he carries on the way he is, most certainly. If he slips back, gets lazy and thinks he’s made it, then no.
“David has done what we expect him to do and what he’s been showing at the back end of last season, through the summer and pre-season as well.
“I want people to give me a headache regarding selections. I made it clear, the race for a place in the team has already started.”
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder
Whether the potential prospect of first team action at Bramall Lane will be enough to convince Brooks – who has played four times for the Blades to date – to stay rather than joining the Toffees Under-23s remains to be seen.
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