, ‘I really struggled’ – Sander Berge opens up on his Sheffield United injury hell in emotional interview

‘I really struggled’ – Sander Berge opens up on his Sheffield United injury hell in emotional interview

Sheffield United and Norway midfielder Sander Berge has reflected on his time in South Yorkshire, and his battles with injury.

Berge, 24, was one of several record signings for Sheffield United during their 2019/20 Premier League campaign, with Berge joining towards the end of that season’s January transfer window.

Chris Wilder spent £22million on the former Genk player who’s since made 52 league appearances for the Blades in total, scoring six goals.

Berge would impress Blades fans in his first half-season at the club. Come the time of his second though, Berge would run into injury problems.

He spent several months of last season sidelined with a hamstring injury and a fresh hamstring injury would scupper the early part of this season too.

But since, Berge has managed to maintain his fitness and also his place in the Sheffield United line up under Paul Heckingbottom – Berge has scored three in his last four and has since received a call-up to play in Norway’s friendlies against Slovakia and Armenia this month.

Speaking to European outlet TV2 (via SportWitness), Berge has opened up on his injury troubles at Bramall Lane, saying:

“It’s a little bad luck. I came to England as a youngster, it was a completely different pace. I played a lot, then came Covid, everything shut down and I trained myself for 100 days. You don’t get treatment, no games or rhythm, just a constant training camp that I did for myself.

“However, then the body probably broke down a bit. I was unlucky with the way the injury happened. It was worse than I expected and hoped. Then it was a battle to get back.

“I felt I had a lot of momentum. I had a year in the Premier League, learned to get to know the league, found my role and embraced our identity as a team. Getting an injury break then, and having to spend several months finding myself again, it was tough.”

And Berge struggled with Covid at the start of this campaign too. Opening up on that, he went on to say:

“I was knocked out. I could barely move. I struggled with the stairs and everything. It took 10-12 days before I could start to activate my body again. When I was back at Sheffield United it was a struggle to keep up with the rest of the team in training sessions. I really struggled.

“There was no preseason when I was back from my illness. It was just ‘now there’s a match tomorrow, you’ve got to be ready again’. I’d been lying down for 14 days and half dead. Then it’s tough.”

Back to his best?

Berge showed a lot of quality when he was fit and playing in the Premier League – so much so that teams like Liverpool and Arsenal were being mentioned alongside him.

Last season and at the start of this season though, Berge looked like he’d lost a lot of confidence in his play. After struggling so much with injury and then Covid, Berge didn’t quite look the same player and many Blades fans fell out of love with the Norwegian.

But over the past few weeks, Berge has returned to the fore and is once again proving his worth. He’s become a hugely important player for the club and his goals of late have fired Sheffield United up into 5th place of the Championship table.

He might yet be the man to fire the B lades back into the top flight – Sheffield United resume their season with a trip to Stoke City next month.

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