Sheffield United releasing Jairo Riedewald a sign of tough decisions to come in rebuild
Releasing Jairo Riedewald, who manager Chris Wilder had said for months he wanted at Sheffield United next season, was a sign of things to come: this is going to have to be a ruthless summer at Bramall Lane.
Riedewald was signed for the experience he could bring to a squad Wilder believes is too light on it. But just like Ben Mee, Danny Ings and Tom Davies, who have also been around the Premier League block, the former Crystal Palace midfielder has been deemed expendable.
For the first time since 2018, the Blades are heading into a new season without Premier League money. They will have to win promotion without parachute payments.
As this year's Championship winners Coventry City have shown – and maybe Hull City will too – it is not impossible. But they have certainly not made it easy for themselves.
Budgets will have to be cut, and more tough decisions made. A fan favourite or two may have to be sold.
The calamitous decisions of last summer – sacking Wilder, appointing Ruben Selles and equipping him with players bought by number crunchers, not actual football experts – remain a millstone.
To look at their retained list, you might think a quiet summer was in the offing. Not at all.
Lists are submitted with playing staffs divided into those under and over the age of 24. It puts last season's players' player of the year Andre Brooks and fellow first-team regulars Femi Seriki, Sydie Peck, Oliver Arblaster and Tom Cannon into a different category, so how many senior players remain after their end-of-season housekeeping is debatable.
You could probably argue 23, maybe 25 if you include Louie Marsh and Jamal Baptiste. It leaves Wilder only just short of the full compliment of outfielders he wants to work with.
So was all his talk for the last few months about "resets" and "rebuilds" sending us down the garden path, overplaying the task ahead?
No, it just means he will have to move quite a few on this summer to bring in the players he wants.
Selling good players is relatively easy – there will be a lengthy queue for Gustavo Hamer, for example, with Leeds United his most well-known admirer. Selling players you do not want can be much trickier, though.
The 23 includes Ivo Grbic, the goalkeeper whose last appearance was in an August 2024 League Cup tie. Triggering an extra 12 months' contract for Adam Davies only confirms what we already knew: Grbic has no future at Bramall Lane.
But that has been the case for two years. A player signed on Premier League wages who has not produced Premier League-level performances is not easy to shift. Might the last year of his contract have to be spent like the last two, on loan?
Midfielder Alex Matos was signed on a three-year contract last summer, yet only made three starts, not playing at all in 2026.
The hope is that Nils Zatterstrom – yet to make his Blades debut after joining in August – can make his Genoa loan permanent.
In public, Wilder says all the right things about Jamie Shackleton, but two starts or 304 minutes (plus stoppage time) in the two years since he joined from Leeds does not represent the "robustness" Wilder says he will be putting a premium on.
And the 23/25 does not include James Bord-influenced artificial intelligence signings Christian Nwachukwu, Mihail Polendakov and Ehije Ukaki, who between them have seen 160 matchdays come and go without a kick.
In Brooks, Seriki, Peck and Arblaster, the Blades have a good core of young players. Ryan One suggested on loan at League One Lincoln City he can add to it, provided he is not whisked away before impacting the first team a la Will Osula, Kyle Walker and Aaron Ramsdale.
Alan Hansen might have been left red-faced by his "You can't win anything with kids" comment, but it is very difficult being promoted from the Championship without a group of battle-hardened men on the field and in the dressing room. Patrick Bamford and reserve goalkeeper Davies need some help.
Hull punched way above their weight and outperformed the Blades in 2025-26 with Oli McBurnie, John Egan, John Lundstram, Semi Ajayi, Matt Crooks, Paddy McNair and Lewie Coyle. At 26, Shirecliffe product Regan Slater is younger than all of them, but an important leader nevertheless. No wonder Wilder would like to bring him back.
Twelve months ago, Wilder and Frank Lampard had the platforms to create promotion-winning teams, but whilst Coventry applied finishing touches, the Blades took a wrecking ball to their squad, removing the Championship experience of Anel Ahmedhodzic, Ben Brereton Diaz, Hamza Choudhury, Rob Holding, Kieffer Moore and Jack Robinson.
The result was a squad that even after Wilder reinforced it, lacked the consistency to finish in the top two.
Next season's squad will have to be cheaper, yet better. Wilder has a difficult balancing act to pull off.