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Latest decision shows Sheffield United are continuing steps to save millions in transfer market
When Jili Buyabu became the latest Sheffield United academy graduate to take to the pitch at Birmingham on the final day of the season, it was another sign that the club’s academy programme is heading in the right direction.
There have now been 11 players who have made their league debuts in the past two seasons, 10 of those have been by Paul Heckingbottom. Add into the mix a handful more in the cup competitions and that number is actually in the teens.
Not bad going at all for a club that is looking to place greater emphasis on its academy. With financial pressure forcing more and more clubs to look at ways of becoming self-sustainable, Sheffield United have already taken their first steps on this road.
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The idea is that the academy can service the first team with a supply chain of young talent, saving them millions in the transfer market. Not only that, but not all those players who make their senior bow at Bramall Lane will go on to have careers at Bramall Lane.
Ensuring they have futures in the game is essential so that United can retain value with sell-on clauses that can help bolster club coffers if they achieve success later on. Heckingbottom says Buyabu is proof of the great work going on below the senior level.
“Delighted, over the last two years I think that’s 11/12 academy league debuts, throw the League Cup into that and it’s into the high teens,” he told Yorkshire Live.
“That’s some going. A reflection of a lot of hard work going off continuously and a reflection of the connection that we want to achieve between the first team and the academy.
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“I have to be comfortable and see them performing in a way where they know and understand their role, likewise, we have to create that pathway where it’s not as big a jump as it could possibly be or the obstacles, that feeling of anxiousness.
“We need to create as smoothly as possible that transition. We do a lot of work on that both in how we set the environment up, how we train together and then how we link with the academy. You know I will put them in, but the big thing, as I always say, is staying in. That’s the next step.”
The under 21s won their Professional Development League division by an incredible 18 points with just four defeats from 28 matches and booked their place in the national final for the second time in three seasons with a 4-0 win over Bristol City yesterday. The under 18s, meanwhile, finished second in their division.
