Harrison Burrows’ Sheffield United absence clarified amid transfer fears as Chris Wilder explains deadline hope

The absence of a key player from a matchday squad will always catch the attention of supporters, but especially so with the transfer deadline just a few days away. And Sheffield United fans were no different with defender Harrison Burrows this weekend.

The left-back was a notable absentee from the United teamsheet against Cardiff City, with Sam McCallum and then the impressive Rhys Norrington-Davies sharing left-back duties against an impressive Bluebirds side who will feel they should have won after having almost 30 shots on the United goal.

But they had to settle for a point after a 2-2 draw, which saw both sides still level in the table with three stalemates from their three Championship games so far.

United are focusing on adding to their squad ahead of Tuesday night’s 11pm deadline, shortly after full-time against Bolton Wanderers, rather than lose any more players. And on Burrows, Wilder said: “No, it’s nothing untoward.

“But get the noise regarding that. H was out for a while with a tight quad, and he tweaked that last weekend at Swansea. So that's the reason he wasn't involved in the week, and why he wasn't involved today.”

United’s transfer search shifted slightly after an injury to Femi Seriki at Blackburn in midweek, which United have not yet discovered the full extent of. But they are planning for the worst-case scenario, with Jamal Baptiste - and then Jamie Shackleton - preferred to Matt Doherty at right-back against the Bluebirds.

“We need to add at right-back, because we don't know where Femi is at the minute,” Wilder added. “We're going on worst-case scenario with Femi. Matt played a lot of minutes on Tuesday and Shacks is in a situaton where he can’t start a game, so we had to make a decision.

“Maybe I got that wrong and should have put Doch in, but we felt that was a risk as well. But getting players in, of course, is really important. We feel we're down the line with a couple, which we need to get in, in my opinion, before 12 o'clock, because it's a really important game. This was an important game.

“We've lost a few players. We've not got players in that I would have liked to have got in on time. It’s a difficult place to come and play, with the enthusiasm and the bounce that a promoted team has got.

“And we need to be our strongest, in my opinion, to deal with another promoted team on Tuesday night.”