Alan Biggs at Large: Write off Sheffield United record signing Sander Berge at your peril

Those casting doubt on Sander Berge might also care to cast their minds back to another Chris Wilder midfield signing.

My first viewing of John Fleck in a Sheffield United shirt left me feeling distinctly underwhelmed.

Thank goodness I thought it and didn’t say it.

And that was in League One, remember.

Now Fleck is one of the top performers in the Premier League.

The other difference is that he cost nothing, a free transfer. Berge is a £22m club record signing.

Then, of course, there’s Lundstram, back in the side at Berge’s expense, setting up the winner for Billy Sharp against Norwich last Saturday.

Admittedly, the Norway international hasn’t set the world alight so far.

But you can see the dangers of pronouncing judgement.

First time I saw Fleck I thought he looked a touch off the pace, even for the third tier, and was wasteful in possession.

But whereas his initial struggle passed almost without comment, there are mutterings about Berge.

That’s mostly to do with his price tag rather than not hitting the ground running.

Here, you have to trust the manager - he’s earned it, as he rightly says.

At worst, his record shows - with the rapid exporting of, say, Lee Evans and, recently, the loan of Callum Robinson to West Brom - he won’t let a mistake consolidate.

Judgement and action is swift, usually at no cost or even a profit.

However, we are a million miles from that scenario with Berge, a young man in a foreign country playing in the most watched and demanding league in the world.

Adjusting to the higher pace and United’s style will take time. He’s a physically formidable athlete, that much is clear, and possessed of high technical ability for a big man.

Berge’s best role, considering he favours anchoring midfield (a position Ollie Norwood has made his own) will take some sorting.

But the examples of Fleck and Lundstram are a warning for those too ready to judge.

Which is not to say that Wilder, for all his superhuman management, is not immune to occasional miscalculation.

He took on all-comers after the recent Brighton game, suggesting “everyone” had written United off this season when most of us hereabouts had been saying exactly the opposite - and at a time when no manager in England was earning more lavish and widespread praise.

I think it was more stored up and calculated for use, understandably, against the derisory tone of certain national pundits once 40 points was hit. A one-off.

The absence of a siege mentality at Bramall Lane is among the many refreshing facets to the story - and there is certainly no need to question this manager’s wisdom on signings, either.

He is handsomely in credit on this, and all fronts, and Sander Berge is more than likely to prove yet another example.