"Limited in today's game" - Sheffield United: Chris Morgan would still be worth £15m in current market | OneFootball

The former centre-back made 279 appearances for the Blades.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Sheffield United were incredibly consistent throughout the 2000s, and were a constant threat in the top half of the Championship.

The Blades prided themselves on a strong defence, something that led them to the Premier League for the first time in 12 years in 2006, and at the heart of it was Chris Morgan.

The centre-back joined Sheffield United in the summer of 2003 from fellow Yorkshire side Barnsley, and went onto play a huge role in the next eight years before he announced his retirement in 2011.

After making 201 appearances for the Tykes in seven years, he went on to play 279 times for the Blades, seeing his side play in a play-off campaign, finish in the Championship top 10 six times, win promotion to the Premier League and ultimately get relegated to League One.

Morgan's excellence should be reflected in his valuation

Despite the relegation to the third tier in his penultimate season at Bramall Lane, his time with the club is highly regarded, and could have been even better if the Blades had managed to see themselves past Sheffield United in the 2008/09 play-off final.

It was one of several nearly moments during his time at the club which even saw them come close to staying in the Premier League in the 2006/07 campaign, as Morgan's team were relegated by one goal, with Wigan Athletic staying up instead.

Nevertheless, the impact he had in his eight years with the Blades was huge, and when asked how much Morgan would be worth in his prime in today's market by Football League World, Sheffield United Fan Pundit, Jimmy from Blades Ramble, said: "A prime Chris Morgan isn't worth a penny less than £15m.

"I think he's limited in today's game in terms of what he can get away with. It was a little bit rougher back in his time when he was such a dominant force, but his leadership, his organisation, his ability to read the game, and just all around great defensive play makes him a £15m defender all day long."

Morgan's Sheffield United career came to a disappointing end

After playing such a huge role throughout the 2000s for the Blades, nobody expected his career to end the way it did.

An ACL injury in October 2010 in a 1-0 loss to Coventry City meant that his season ended early, and despite continuing to be a part of the team in the 2011/12 campaign, that defeat was the last game that he ever played in professional football.

Morgan was 32 when he suffered the injury, and it was one that proved too difficult to recover from, announcing his retirement from the game in July 2012, nearly two years after the incident occurred.

He went on to stay at the club in a coaching capacity, taking charge of several matches as caretaker manager for Sheffield United as well as Port Vale, while also spending a year at Chesterfield as the assistant manager.