£2.9m Sheffield United player tipped for Bramall Lane exit | OneFootball

Jimmy from Blades Ramble revealed his thoughts on Nils Zätterström being made available for loan in January

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 have been told they “can’t judge” Nils Zätterström after he was made available for loan by Chris Wilder - and there’s still “hope” he can compete for a first-team spot in the future.

This comes after journalist Andy Giddings reported that Wilder has confirmed the South Yorkshire club will allow Zätterström to leave temporarily in January.

Less than six months after his £2.9m arrival from Malmö, the 20-year-old centre-back has failed to feature in a single competitive outing for Blades.

Sheffield United fans "can't judge" Nils Zätterström after Chris Wilder transfer decision

FLW’s Sheffield United Fan Pundit, Jimmy from Blades Ramble, believes sending Zätterström out on loan is a sensible course of action given the circumstances surrounding his arrival.

He opened up on the situation by telling FLW, "Nils Zatterstrom, interesting one. We've not seen anything of him, so as fans we can't judge him, we have to trust that the club's brought in a decent player when we're spending that amount of money."

This reasoning from Jimmy directly comes from the club's controversial recruitment approach over the summer period.

As we are all well aware of now, COH Sports controversially adopted an AI-driven data model to identify and recruit players - championed by James Bord, who was recently dismissed from completing a takeover of their Steel City rivals, Sheffield Wednesday.

Jimmy added, "Forgive us for being skeptical, we’ve seen some of the AI sort of data driven signings that the club brought in in the summer and they haven’t really been anywhere near the level, particularly for the outlay that we’ve put forward for them."

Perhaps to the relief of Blades fans, Wilder has since confirmed that Bord will have "zero" influence on United's transfer planning going forward - which probably suggests no further ‘AI signings’ will be made.

Nils Zätterström could "compete for a first-team spot" at Sheffield United in the future

Despite the disappointment of the summer recruitment, Jimmy remains hopeful that Zätterström has genuine quality and that time away from Sheffield United could unlock his potential.

The club permanently shipped out one of their February signings, Peruvian winger Jefferson Caceres, in order to make room for the Swede in the summer - and now it seems like there wasn't much point in signing either.

Jimmy further explained his reasoning for supporting the loan move, "Zätterström, obviously we hope that he can be a player for Sheffield United in the long-term, but he's certainly not involved in the short term.

"So, with him being a young lad, get him out on loan, get him some minutes under his belt, and hopefully he can return to United as a more accomplished and established player to compete for a first-team spot," he concluded.

From what the Fan Pundit says, there’s no denying that the loan approach offers several benefits for all parties involved. Zätterström will gain valuable competitive football in what is likely to be a lower-intensity division, allowing him to develop his game and build confidence away from the scrutiny of the Championship.

Meanwhile, United will free up some squad space during a key period of their season - as they attempt to climb away entirely from near the foot of the league table.

But, ultimately, the jury will remain out on whether the Swedish international will become a valuable asset for Blades after fans have actually seen him play in the Championship - if that ever happens.