Sheffield United: Bid for target submitted as talks with free agent progress
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The player, who Bettis revealed would command a fee if he agrees to join Paul Heckingbottom’s squad, is one of two potential targets currently in negotiation with officials at Bramall Lane. The other is thought to be approaching the end of his contract.
Although United are also likely to focus heavily on the loan market, after being impressed with Morgan Gibbs-White’s impact after spending last season in South Yorkshire, Bettiis warned those deals could take longer to broker because of the complexities involved.
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Hide AdBut he acknowledged: "We've got one offer in at the moment for a permanent with a fee being paid and if we could, we'd get it done in the next week or so.
"We've got another player that's a free transfer who we're in talks with and we're moving that one forward.
"They're probably the two really getting traction at the moment.
“I think the loan market always takes a bit longer before a manager decides who to let out on loan and the player has to get his head around not playing there next season and not even playing in the Premier League,” Bettis continued. “Some of them get scared about playing in the Championship because if they don't rip it up, they'll stop being a Premier League player and even at Championship level they're devaluing themselves.
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Hide Ad“There are some that don't even want to do it at that point so you have to find ones that back themselves and believe in themselves to come and perform.
"If they don't want that, we don't want them.”
The known interest
United are known to be admirers of Chelsea defender Jake Clarke-Salter following his recent performances for Coventry City, while Hibernian’s Josh Doig is also thought to have attracted interest from their coaching staff. After acknowledging there are “six or seven” issues within his squad which needs addressing, Heckingbottom could also explore opportunities in Russia if FIFA allows overseas players there to continue suspending their contracts.
Clarke-Salter’s agreement at Stamford Bridge still has 12 months left to run while Doig is tied to Hibernian until 2025.
United could also be set to receive another approach from Nottingham Forest, who beat them in the Championship play-off semi-finals, for Max Lowe. Sander Berge’s representative is also thought to be considering several expressions of interest in the Norway midfielder although, speaking earlier this week, Bettis insisted “no bids” have yet to be received for any of those currently at Heckingbottom’s disposal.
The way it works
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Hide AdOutlining his role in deciding which openings United pursue, Bettis said: "Paul is in sole control of what positions we need to strengthen, within reason obviously. If we had six right-backs and Paul asked for another one we'd be, like, 'Come on, we've got six,' but Paul's not going to do that.”
"He really drives what positions need strengthening and then we hand it over to our recruitment team to highlight players for those positions based on the budgets we can do at this point,” Bettis added.” They come back with shortlists for Paul to review, we agree on one or two players and go out there and start negotiating.”