Chris Wilder says John Fleck would have started against Fulham on Sunday after holding positive talks with the midfielder about his Sheffield United form. Wilder revealed he has held positive talks with the midfielder about the dip in his performance levels and planned to bring him back for the 1-1 draw on Sunday before injury struck.
Chris Wilder said “John was down to play. I talked to John after the Arsenal game and said he needs to get up to speed and I need him in the team. We agreed with that and he went up the road to Scotland. He was pencilled in to play. It will be four to six weeks and it’s another blow that we have to take on the chin.”
The Blades boss could not hide his disappointment at losing the midfielder, who will miss the rest of this month and possibly November too following injury while on international duty with Scotland. Fleck suffered a back injury which Wilder said would not happen ’99 times out of 100′, but that he is ‘unfortunate’ to be out for between four to six weeks. With Jack O’Connell and Lys Mousset already missing, the timing of Fleck’s injury could not have been worse with the manager now deprived of three key players. Having brought him to the club in 2016, Wilder knows only too well the influence Fleck can have on this Sheffield United team. He was a player of the year candidate last season pre-lockdown and when firing on all cylinders is one of the first names on the teamsheet. However, he has been struggling to regain that form so far during this campaign and had found himself out of the starting XI for the matches against Leeds and Arsenal.
