Pemberton urges Blades youngsters to stay put

Sheffield United’s Academy products have put a smile back on the face of Blades fans after a miserable season for the first team which culminated in relegation from the Championship to English football’s third tier.

Around 30,000 fans packed out Bramall Lane on Tuesday night for the first leg of the club’s FA Youth Cup final against Manchester United. Among those who witnessed that 2-2 draw which sets up a nailbiting return leg at Old Trafford on Monday, was a host of agents all tracking the club’s bright young prospects.

Harry Maguire, Terry Kennedy, George Long, Matt Harriot, Jordan Slew and Callum McFadzean have all caught the eye this year with the latter two scoring against the Red Devils’ youth select on Tuesday.

And their emergence from the shadows has brought with it increased interest from other clubs.

“Since getting into the semi-final my phone’s not stopped ringing,” said Pemberton. “That’s the problem I’ve got.

“I’d prefer not to have it but it comes with the territory. When they start being successful, that’s what you get.

“When they’ve got every Tom, Dick and Harry saying they can earn three, four, five times as much elsewhere, it’s hard.

“But they are far better having 30 games in the Sheffield United first team than in a Premier League reserve team and that’s what I’ve been trying to hammer home.

“I sit down with these kids and tell them ‘please don’t let an agent make a footballing decision for you’.

“Agents are part-and-parcel of what we do and I’m not anti-agents, but I just don’t want these kids to have an agent making football decisions for them because of financial reasons.

“If you play consistently well the money will come. You don’t need to be on stupid money at 18 years old. I tell them this, they hear what I’m saying, I hope they listen.

“Dario Gradi did that with me at Crewe. He said ‘you’re going to move next year, don’t worry about that, but you’re not ready yet, play another season in my team’.

“That’s what I want to do. I won’t ever stand in anyone’s way. If in a year’s time a Premier League club came in you’d be a fool to stand in their way, and after that we would have to negotiate the right price for him so you can then put that back into developing another Jordan Slew or Harry Maguire.”

Maguire had a scan on an ankle injury picked up in the first leg and is expected to be fit for Monday.

United expect more than 6,000 fans will follow them across the Pennines to Old Trafford.