Paul Heckingbottom’s Sheffield United transfer wish ahead of Crystal Palace opener

United have made four summer signings so far, the latest being Auston Trusty from Arsenal, but Heckingbottom has gone on record with his view that his squad is still some way off where it was even in the Championship last season, before the big jump in quality to the Premier League.

Heckingbottom is targeting more midfield reinforcements as well as a new forward, with extra funds placed at his disposal following the sale of Iliman Ndiaye to Marseille earlier this week. Trusty joined Anis Slimane, Yasser Larouci and Benue Traore at Bramall Lane but all are young players seen as having the potential to improve, rather than being ready for Premier League action.

New faces struggle in United player ratings v Stuttgart

As well as losing Ndiaye, loanees Reda Khadra, Tommy Doyle, Ciaran Clark and James McAtee all returned to their parent clubs at the end of the season while Oli McBurnie, Rhian Brewster, Rhys Norrington-Davies and John Fleck are also injured to varying degrees.

Speaking after Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Stuttgart in their final pre-season game ahead of the new kick-off, Heckingbottom was asked if he expects any transfer activity before next weekend’s big kick-off. He said: “Yeah.

“We’ve been close on one for a while. But we need more than that. I think there are plenty of areas on the pitch where we need bodies and why we want them. It’s always an issue with loans because when you’re looking for good loans they come out towards the end and that’s the problem. We’ve got to be patient.

“There is so much work to do and the unfortunate thing for us is that the season is just a few days away. We’ve got to work really hard.”