'Excited' Sheffield United hero's move abroad confirmed

George Baldock has officially made his move to recently-crowned Greek Cup winners Panathinaikos.

Baldock left United at the end of the season after seven years at Bramall Lane with it being no sectret that there was interest from Greece, for whom he is an international.

The 31-year-old made over 400 appearances for the Blades after being brought to South Yorkshire by Chris Wilder, the two having worked together when Baldock had a successful loan spell under the manager at Oxford United. He would go on to win promotion to the Premier League twice.

Baldock said a fresh challenge was the main reason behind his decision to make the move to Greece.

"I wanted to change teams and goals, after seven years at Sheffield,” a translated statement on the club’s website said. “Essentially, I was looking for a great opportunity in my career and Panathinaikos gave it to me. When I learned of the interest of Panathinaikos, I was excited and basically everything happened very quickly, without any special negotiations.

“Something worked inside me that gave me a particularly positive aura about Panathinaikos' outlook. It probably relates to the stories of my father, who has Greek roots and the first football game he watched in his life was at the home of Panathinaikos in a league match. He had spoken to me in the best words about my new team. I could have gone to other leagues, but I chose Panathinaikos because I want to play in a leading team, win titles, play in European competitions."

Baldock leaves behind a gap in experience at United, with Ollie Norwood, Wes Foderingham, Chris Basham and Ben Osborn also leaving the club this summer.