Sheffield United CEO Stephen Bettis has told the media that the Blades are very close to making additions to the recruitment team.
Sheffield United face a significant summer overhaul ahead, with the departure of longstanding head of recruitment Paul Mitchell from the club.
Mitchell, who has been integral to United’s recruitment efforts since 2016, has left by mutual agreement. Although his contract was originally set to expire this summer, both parties reached an agreement for an early departure due to personal circumstances.
Chris Wilder’s initial tenure at Sheffield United saw some remarkable business deals, with signings like Jack O’Connell, John Fleck, and Mark Duffy standing out as particularly memorable moments for the club’s fans.
Other notable cheap additions in the past: David McGoldrick, George Baldock, John Egan and Oli Norwood, in which the latter trio still reside at Bramall Lane.
However, supporters haven’t shied away from critcising last summer’s transfer dealings as the squad entered the Premier League completely unprepared.
The first three signings in pre-season were Anis Slimane, Benie Traore and Yasser Larouci – in hindsight they’ve turned out to be awful decisions, although Slimane has shown a couple of promising moments.
And now the club have decided it’s time to improve in this department.
Stephen Bettis on Sheffield United’s recruitment plans
Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield’s Football Heaven, Bettis detailed the recruitment plans.
“We don’t plan to change from having a head of recruitment. We’ve not felt comfortable about having a director of football or a head of football. We feel if we get the right person in as head of recruitment, that solves it. It will be more data driven than it has been historically and we’ll be adding one or two to that department in terms of data analysis.”
“They’ll be here. We’ve got a shortlist, we’re talking to various people. We’ve made an offer to one person this week, not a head of recruitment, someone senior within the recruitment department.”
My view
After hearing Bettis talk about the new recruitment plans; the additions of data analysts, I cannot wait for the summer rebuild.
Sheffield United have access to all the same data that other club’s have, but it’s how you interpret that data which makes the difference. Seemingly, we have been caught lacking at times of late.
Some top analyst bodies in the recruitment department certainly won’t go a miss, and I’m personally very excited to see what the short-term future holds for the football club.
I’ve preached for a long time on social media, “in order to become an established Premier League club, you first got to act like one before you even get there”. The best most recent example of this would be Brentford.
Even in the Championship they had analysts for pretty much everything, hence why their transfer dealings were always very good. Another thing they’ve had, even before promotion to the Premier League, is a set-piece analyst – the Blades are bringing one in this summer.
With improvements to the backroom and recruitment staff, as well as the news regarding the new training facilities, things are starting to look very positive for Sheffield United Football Club.
