Usually when a player leaves one of Europe’s smaller ponds for the wide open seas of English football – as the Sheffield United player in question did over the summer – that means they had outgrown their old habitat.

Nigerian winger Ehije Ukaki joined the Blades after blossoming into one of the stand-out attackers in Bulgarian football during a seven-goal campaign at Botev Plovdiv.

According to Nikolay Petkov, an expert of all things Bulgaria, the Bramall Lane newbie is a ‘brilliant talent‘ who deserves his chance at a higher level [Sheffield Star].

Former Septemvri Sofia sensation Mihail Polendakov arrived, too, in the hope that Sheffield United can mould him into a player worthy of England’s second-tier.

But Nils Zatterstrom, according to Malmo’s sporting director Daniel Andersson, made his own move to South Yorkshire in slightly different circumstances.

Daniel Andersson explains why Malmo sold Nils Zatterstrom to Sheffield United

While Andersson initially admitted that Malmo wanted to keep Nils Zatterstrom in his native Sweden, the director now claims that Sheffield United’s £2.8 million central defender would have found game time hard to come by had he elected to stay at the reigning Allsvenskan champions.

Zatterstrom started only two of eleven league matches before the Blades made a breakthrough in discussions. Andersson, then, argues that the decision to let the 20-year-old go was made with his own needs in mind, as well as the financial benefits of a sale which makes him their sixth-biggest export of the decade.

“We got to a point now where he needed to play,” Andersson tells Expressen. “And we, in a dialogue with the coach, didn’t see that he would get to do that much here.

“We got an offer we thought was very good [from Sheffield United], and that could generate more money if things go well for Nils, so we took it.”

Andersson accepts that Malmo could have earned more than £2.8 million later down the line, once Zatterstrom had established himself in the starting XI.

But, on the other hand, a player’s development is not always linear. If Zatterstrom had failed to oust the likes of Pascal Janssen, formerly of Leeds and Brentford, there is no guarantee that such an offer would present itself again.

“Could he have become a better player here? Played, performed well and brought in more money? Yes, maybe,” the director muses. “It could also have gone the other way.

“Regardless of how good Nils is, coincidences can decide. Should we have loaned him out? It’s not entirely certain that you’ll come to an environment where you fly. There are risks that you have to weigh up and that’s why we made the deal.”

Zatterstrom yet to feature for Ruben Selles as Japhet Tanganga and Ben Godfrey come in

Capped once by the senior Swedish national team, Zatterstrom is yet to make his Championship debut under the increasingly-maligned Ruben Selles.

Ben Godfrey, Japhet Tanganga and Tyler Bindon started during the 1-0 defeat by Middlesbrough last weekend, with Zatterstrom on the bench.

Ex-Tottenham prospect Tanganga believes he’ll maintain his progress with the Blades despite their dismal start, while Godfrey also feels like a coup on paper given his vast experience in the top-flights of England and Italy.

Zatterstrom, then, could be set for another spell on the sidelines, waiting for an opportunity behind two more established centre-halves.

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