Sheffield United: Blades confident of capturing Oli McBurnie

The Star understands Wilder is planning to recruit two more players, including the Swansea City centre-forward, before the end of the transfer window. A box-to-box midfielder, rather than another striker, is also believed to feature on the United manager's wanted list.

Despite City's refusal to accept their latest bid for McBurnie, sources close to the negotiation process last night confirmed the 23-year-old remains attracted by the possibility of joining Wilder's team after recently describing himself as "flattered" by United's interest.

Although they are unlikely to significantly raise their valuation, agents acting on Wilder's behalf could choose to tweak certain aspects of United's original £15m offer in an effort, using McBurnie's wishes as leverage, to force City's hand.

"We've got a couple more bits to do," Wilder said, ahead of this weekend's friendly against Stade de Reims. "We're delighted with how things are coming on but there's still a few areas where we need to do something."

United played their penultimate pre-season friendly at Barnsley on Saturday, running out 4-1 winners with debutant Ben Osborn among the scorers. Previously of Nottingham Forest, Osborn was also joined in the starting eleven by Dean Henderson, after he returned to South Yorkshire on loan from Manchester United. The goalkeeper, who helped United win promotion from the Championship last term, became their seventh acquisition of the summer after being unveiled before the visit to Oakwell.

After sanctioning Regan Slater's move to Scunthorpe - the youngster will spend next season in north Lincolnshire before returning to United - Wilder said: "We're working hard behind the scenes and we've identified a couple of areas where we need a little bit more, because of what we're going into."