Sheffield United should be monitoring Wigan Athletic situation for one key reason | OneFootball

Sheffield United will have eyes watching Wigan Athletic's situation in League One

Sheffield United’s 2025-26 season started in unimaginably poor fashion, but recent signs have showed that a late charge towards the Championship play-offs could be happening.

Having just missed out on promotion to the Premier League in the play-off final, Ruben Selles replaced Chris Wilder at the helm and oversaw a large overhaul in the Sheffield United playing squad at Bramall Lane over the summer.

It would be fair to suggest that the window, and indeed Selles’ tenure, was an unmitigated disaster, with the Spaniard dismissed after just six games, leaving the Blades with their tails between their legs as they got back on the phone to Wilder.

One of the only positives from the summer window was the retention of the services of goalkeeper Michael Cooper, who was the subject of interest from Premier League sides Everton and West Ham.

Signed from Plymouth Argyle for just £2 million in the summer of 2024, the Englishman was an integral figure for Wilder’s side last season.

Though he hasn’t quite hit similar heights this campaign, his stock remains high, and Sheffield United should stay alert to Wigan Athletic’s situation in League One in case interest in Cooper re-emerges.

Sheffield United should be keeping a close eye on Sam Tickle’s situation at Wigan Athletic

As per Alan Nixon’s Patreon in December, Wigan goalkeeper Sam Tickle was the subject of interest from Sheffield United, who were keeping tabs on the former England youth international in case an offer to Cooper arrived in January.

Tickle cemented himself as the Latics' first-choice goalkeeper following the club's relegation back to League One in 2023, and over two-and-a-half years later, he has yet to miss a league game.

In his first full season as Wigan's number one, and indeed his first full season as a number one in professional football, then-manager Shaun Maloney handed Tickle the number one shirt.

He would keep 15 clean sheets in his first campaign between the sticks for the Latics and won Wigan's Player of the Year award for that season, becoming the first goalkeeper to win the award since Ali Al Habsi 13 years prior.

Maloney heaped praise on Tickle and said, "This is only my opinion, but I don't think there's a better goalkeeper in our league...I'm not sure there's a better goalkeeper in the league above...he's that good!"

As per FotMob, his save percentage in his first professional season stood at an impressive 70.8%, whilst making 136 saves across the campaign, an average of 2.96 per game, though he had a goals prevented statistic of -0.47.

He'd continue his fine form into the following season, keeping a further 18 clean sheets despite Wigan’s struggles at the other end of the pitch, and improving drastically on his goals-preventing statistic, saving +4.77 goals across the season.

Interestingly, Cooper emerged as Plymouth's number one at a similar age, and upon their promotion to League One in 2020, was made the main man between the sticks at Home Park.

Like Tickle, Cooper would play every single league game in his first two seasons after emerging as his side's number one, also making the most saves of any keeper in the league in his first two campaigns, as per FotMob, before continuing his fine form in goal and earning a move to Bramall Lane in 2024.

Despite the Latics' at the foot of League One this campaign, Tickle has continued to impress, with his place in between the sticks never coming into question.

Should the Latics indeed suffer relegation to League Two, it would be difficult to imagine a world where the 23-year-old stays with the club, with his asking price likely taking a huge tumble following those events.

Wilder and Sheffield United should be keeping an eye on Wigan’s situation at the foot of the third tier. As a result, if Cooper once again has a strong interest in him, Tickle would be an excellent, young, cheap, and ready-made replacement.

Chris Wilder will be targeting a top-six finish with Sheffield United despite a poor start to the season

Despite Sheffield United’s abysmal start to the campaign, since Wilder returned to his post in the Bramall Lane dugout, the Blades have seen their form and performances take a huge upturn.

Whilst they remain some way off the top six at this stage, if they can continue to string together wins, then there is no reason as to why they can’t go on and fire themselves into a play-off place.

Should the Blades indeed achieve that drastic turnaround and earn promotion back to the Premier League, whether Tickle would remain a serious option at that point remains to be seen, with the jump to the top flight being too much too soon.

Nevertheless, one eye must be kept on Wigan’s current situation, as if newly-appointed boss Gary Caldwell cannot steer the ship around, then Tickle’s future will almost certainly lie away from his boyhood club.