Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder on claims of Tony Pulis
SHEFFIELD UNITED manager Chris Wilder has side-stepped talk from his good friend Tony Pulis suggesting that cross-city rivals Sheffield Wednesday would be a bigger club than the Blades if they reached the Premier League and were competing in the big time together.
Pulis was appointed as Owls manager last Friday and has said that his dream would be take Wednesday back into the top tier and play the Blades in a Sheffield derby at Hillsborough.
He also added the caveat that it was his belief that Wednesday would be the bigger club, while paying due respect to the work of Wilder.
The Blades chief insists his only concern is the here and now for his United side and engineering a fightback following a fraught and winless start to the season that he placed the club's top-flight status in jeopardy if things don't change.
Wilder, whose bottom-of-the-table side welcome West Ham on Sunday, said: "It is great to have Tony back in football, he is a proper football man.
"All I am bothered is Sheffield United, as you can imagine, in trying to get a result in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
"I have any enormous amount of respect for Tony and what he has done and the career he has had and he is a good man."
Meanwhile, the Blades have been handed a welcome selection boost with the news that striker Lys Mousset and key midfielder John Fleck are back in training and could return against the Hammers.
The likes of John Egan, Enda Stevens and Rhian Brewster will be assessed following international duty, while the club are waiting to awaiting for further instruction regarding the situation with Norwegian international Sander Berge and some others who travelled during the international break.
Norway did not play during this international break after the country’s Health Ministry stopped them travelling.
It followed a positive COVID-19 test for defender Omar Elabdellouai last Friday, with all of the players told to go into quarantine for ten days following the news.
Wilder said: "There are a couple of issues. It is difficult when they go away and they are out of our control and bubble with different standards and issues.
"We have a couple of injury situations. The positive is that Mousset is back in full-time training and might be available, which is great news.
"John Fleck has been training which is huge news for us as John has been fabulous with us all the way through in my time at the club.
"For the other players to see those players training and getting to full tilt is great for everybody.
"But there's certain situations from a testing and injury point of view that we will leave right to the last minute in picking the right team."