Sheffield United have long begun compiling lists of potential transfer targets for this summer as they look to banish the memory of this season to history. Danny Hall reports

Sheffield United will monitor the situations of a number of Premier League wingers this summer - including one they came up against yesterday in their final home game of the Championship season - to address one of the priority positions flagged up in the Blades' big summer rebuild, The Star understands.

United have been planning for next season for some time now, since their outside hopes of a top-six dash were officially ended, and saw out their home campaign with a limp defeat to Preston North End yesterday.

A number of players had what is expected to be their final experience of Bramall Lane in a United shirt, with a summer clear-out pending that could see as many as 19 move on.

One of the positions United have identified as a must-strengthen is down the left, where they have played either Gus Hamer or Callum O'Hare for most of the summer.

The feeling is that United need genuine width down both sides next season and that has seen a list of potential candidates drawn up, with young wingers from the Premier League one area of focus.

Crucially, though, United are eyeing players on the fringes of top-flight sides who have experience in the Championship. United have learned the lesson of gambling on Aston Villa's Louie Barry in the summer, seeing the youngster struggle to acclimatise in his first experience of the second tier and cutting short his loan in the summer.

One of the names on their long-list, we understand, is another Villa man in the shape of Lewis Dobbin, who played at Bramall Lane yesterday and scored Preston's crucial third goal in a 3-2 win. He could on another day have had a hat-trick as Preston piled more misery on Unitedites.

Paul Heckingbottom, the former United boss now in charge at Deepdale, suggested post-match that he would be keen to work with the winger again next season and the Blades will face competition - including, we understand, from the Bundesliga - if they do make an official approach for his services.

But it highlights both the profile and calibre of player they are looking for as they look to build a squad capable of mounting a promotion push next season, and banishing the memory of this one.

Their left-wing search doesn't mean that United are resigned to life without Hamer either. If he remains for the 2026/27 season Hamer could be utilised in a more central role, despite the strong possibility that he moves on this summer if a club meets their asking price for a player soon to be entering the final 12 months of his current contract and yet to show any positive indication that he will extend.