JACK’S BLADES REWARD IS DEAL TO 2022
JACK O’Connell might have struggled in his first spell in the Championship, but the Sheffield United defender is desperate to prove a point with the Blades after signing a new deal at Bramall Lane.
O’Connell spent a year at Brentford but made just nine league starts before dropping down to United in League One.
But, having been part of last year’s promotion push and with the Blades having started this season so strongly, O’Connell had no hesitation about extending his deal through to 2022.
“Once the gaffer said he wanted to extend the contract, it was a no-brainer. I fit into the club and the way we play,” said the 23-yearold
“I have things to prove here. It didn’t work out at Brentford in the Championship for me, so that leaves me with something to prove.
“But it is also the fans. I believe I proved something to them, but now I want to keep doing that.
“Things are going well, but that only comes from hard work. We have to keep carrying on with all that hard work if we want to succeed.
“Things have gone really well since I came to the club.
“This season, we maybe didn’t expect to be quite where we are near the top, but nevertheless we have worked hard to get there and now we want to stay up there.”
It was not just an easy decision for O’Connell. Blades boss Chris Wilder was similarly keen to get the deal done.
“He’s not just impressed me. He’s impressed everybody,” Wilder said.
“There’s only one opinion on Jack and that is he’s an important player who has done fantastically well.
“He’s adapted well to the step-up from Brentford’s reserves. He wanted to stay here. I wanted to keep him. So that was that.”