‘We won’t make an emotional signing’ – John Egan’s Sheffield United future up in the air after injury
John Egan is on the road to recovery from long-term injury. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Long-term injury victim John Egan has been warned that he may need to prove his fitness before gaining a new contract from Sheffield United with a promise from the club that they won’t re-sign him in an “emotional deal”.
Egan (31) has not played for the Blades since September due to an Achilles injury and while the Blades do hold out hope of having him back in the side before the end of the season, there is no guarantee of that.
”It's going to be tight, but we've had him down to hopefully come back before the end of the season. I'm not saying he's going to be ready in the next month but if he makes the strides and the speed of recovery he is at the moment, you never know, going into the final two or three games,” says manager Chris Wilder.
"If John's available and if we need him towards the end of the season he's certainly someone we can rely on and we'd be stronger with his experience, his know-how and his ability."
Today's Sport News in 90 Seconds - 22nd February
But with Egan’s contract due to expire at the end of this campaign, there is a doubt over keeping him on because he’s missed so much football this term with that injury, with Chris Basham in a similar situation.
"I think it's quite a difficult one because we've talked about availability at this football club and it's huge. The availability of the players for quite a long period has not been great, and it affects everything.
"It affects your consistency, continuity, team selection, the availability to change things and rest players and get any sort of rhythm from a coaching point of view. It's the biggest thing. I've said to the board we definitely need players that are available, whatever division we're in and through that, you have to make decisions on players and we have to make sure that we get it right as well,” Wilder added.
"That isn't being negative to the likes of Basham and John Egan who've been outstanding and for me, I'd love them to still be part of things moving forward. But we have to make sure that John gets back to full fitness and that is not just an emotional signing, because of what he's done in the past. Everyone knows all these lads have got to contribute, whether it's next year in the Prem or next year outside of the Prem."
