'Mitchell should leave with his head held high'

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The 6-0 shellacking by Arsenal seemed to stir Sheffield United’s previously dormant hierarchy into some kind of action, with the Blades' head of recruitment, Paul Mitchell, leaving his job with immediate effect after eight years in the post.

Recent transfer business has been poor, and this is undoubtedly a good moment for a refresh in how the club conducts its recruitment.

At the same time, though, Mitchell should leave with his head held high.

Chris Wilder deserves every plaudit he has received for dragging the team out of League One and into the Premier League, on that magical run between 2016 and 2020, but Mitchell has been there with him every step of the way.

For every Mason Holgate or Luke Freeman, there are examples of players who - under Mitchell's watch and no doubt recommendation - formed the bedrock of probably the best Blades team of my lifetime.

Players like Jack O'Connell, Mark Duffy, Enda Stevens and John Fleck trip off the tongue as modern United greats, delivering hundreds of outstanding performances in red and white. They were assembled for virtually nothing.

When the club did spend money in the Championship – on the likes of John Egan, George Baldock and Oliver Norwood – we got incredible value for that outlay. That trio has been at the heart of three promotions, two of which were back up to the top flight.

Counter-intuitively, Mitchell's recruitment has fallen down when we have actually had big money (for us) to spend.

Rhian Brewster, Oli McBurnie, Callum Robinson, Freeman, and plenty of our other Premier League signings, have not come close to living up to the fees spent on them. Although the jury is still out on many of this season's crop of arrivals.

However, in the lower leagues, Mitchell's knowledge and eye for an unpolished diamond was unparalleled.

If United hope to establish themselves in the Premier League in the next few years, this is a good time for a refresh and hopefully a move towards a broader, more modern scouting network.

But Mitchell deserves every Blades fan's respect for moving the club from the League One doldrums to a stage where cemeting ourselves in the top flight is a realistic aim for the club rather than sheer fantasy.

Ben Meakin can be found on BladesPod, external

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