Sheffield United: Can Blades now hold on to their young stars after promotion to Premier League?

Billy Sharp takes the ball around Aaron Ramsdale: James Wilson/Sportimage

Saturday’s 1-1 draw at AFC Bournemouth was a promising start to life in the Premier League for Sheffield United, but also a reminder of what could have been.

Former Blades goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale made his top-flight debut in the home goal, after joining the Cherries on deadline day when Chris Wilder’s men were still in League One.

In the third tier, United routinely had to cash in on prized assets in an attempt to balance the books, with the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Harry Maguire and Ramsdale all leaving South Yorkshire.

David Brooks then departed, again to Bournemouth, in a £11.5m move the summer before United won promotion to the Premier League, although he missed the reunion with his former side at the weekend with injury.

Wilder told the story on Saturday of how he sold Ramsdale an hour before he was due to get married on deadline day.

“He tried to balls that up!” Wilder, who handed Ramsdale his senior debut in an FA Cup tie in 2016, joked.

"I got married in London and myself and the chief exec sold him to Bournemouth and then when that got done within an hour I was married.