Sheffield United defender Max Lowe has spent his season on loan with Nottingham Forest having a key role to play in their promotion to the Premier League. 

Despite being injured since March, the 25-year-old was able to come off the bench for the final 15 minutes in Sunday's play-off final.

Lowe has made no secret of the fact he would like to extend his stay at the City Ground especially with their promotion to the top flight and the feeling is likely to be reciprocated after it's been hinted that Forest put a bid in for the player in January.

However, United's CEO Stephen Bettis has told Paul Heckingbottom there's no pressure to sell the player as he told Yorkshire Live: "It's up to Paul. We have three players in that position.

"In an ideal world there is no pressure from our side for Paul to sell Max. Paul likes to keep the squad balanced and if there is a potential to sell one of those players and use that money elsewhere in the squad that may be something that gets considered.

"We are not sat here at the moment telling Paul that he needs to sell Max. We did have an offer for Max in January, which we turned down. We were not interested in doing that, and actually Max was put out on loan but Slav [Slavisa Jokanovic] at the start of the season. It wasn't Paul's decision.

"He now has to take a look at all three of the players and the squad in general, and if there are any changes he wants to make we can discuss them."

 

 

The Verdict: 

You can understand why Max Lowe may be keen to make his move to Forest permanent this summer not just because of their Premier League status but also because he was given an opportunity to play a key role there.

However, as Bettis points out, it wasn't Heckingbottom that initially sent him out on loan and actually hanging on the the player could be a massive boost for United next season.

It could depend on the fee being offered by Nottingham Forest as well as the Blades manager taking the time to weigh up his squad.

However, it's fair enough that there is no pressure for Heckingbottom to sell the player as he could prove to be a crucial player for the side next season if they kept him in the squad.