Home comforts enabling Sheffield United’s Sander Berge to remain active

That big investment also saw them recruit a player with the mentality, self-drive and maturity to compliment his football gifts. That strength of character is now serving Berge well following the temporary curtailment of his career move to the Premier League, with the 22-year-old now training on his own in his native Norway and not in Sheffield with his Blades team-mates. For Berge, heading back home is far from ideal, but there is also refreshing perspective from the Norwegian, who returned to his homeland following the suspension of football in England amid the coronavirus outbreak. Berge, who joined United from Belgian club Genk, said: “For 35 months in the last three years, I was alone in Belgium. “Ok, I had family members for certain games and had been on the national team and had holidays, but mostly, I’ve been on my own and know how to keep myself busy and enjoy my own company otherwise it’d be difficult. “It is a strange time. Since I was quite young, I played with older players and started playing with 14-year-old’s at 11 and have a brother was eight years older than me, so I have been old in my own way from a young age. “I feel like I have grown a lot and can handle these situations. I have seen a chance to be a better player and it is about being mentally strong. “I am fit, happy and a Sheffield United player in the Premier League which is a dream, so I have nothing to complain about.” Hailing from a suburb of Oslo, Berge – aside from following his fitness programmes – is passing much leisure time playing computer games, the preserve of many young modern-day footballers It is helping to provide a welcome international element of competition for him as well. Berge said: “I have been playing Fifa, Tour of Duty or Fortnite; that is the most common and is what I like. Instead of FaceTiming just one or two friends, I can play with everybody there. “On Monday or Tuesday, I think Norway are supposed to be playing a game with Germany. The Norwegian Federation asked me to play, so I will probably have a role in it.” Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well. Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade. And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help. Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing subscriptions@jpimedia.co.uk. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available. If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country. Sincerely. Thank you. James Mitchinson Editor