Sheffield United boss address Ki-Jana Hoever situation after suggestions Wolves transfer move has broken down

Chris Wilder, the Sheffield United manager, was tight-lipped about Ki-Jana Hoever’s situation after his proposed transfer from Wolves hit a stumbling block. The former Liverpool man had been set to become United’s latest summer signing after agreeing a loan switch to South Yorkshire, as an effective replacement for Jayden Bogle.

But we understand that the move has hit a snag and is currently not expected to go through imminently, in another blow for United’s recruitment this summer. They face Preston North End in their Championship opener next Friday on the back of a 1-1 draw at Huddersfield Town, in which their lack of squad depth was laid bare.

Femi Seriki played 90 minutes at right-back, after Sam Curtis sealed a loan move to Peterborough United earlier in the day, and United ended the game with teenager Louie Marsh up front and left-back Harrison Burrows on the right wing. United will now step up their attempts to bring in another right-back ahead of their trip to Deepdale next week.

Asked about Hoever after the Huddersfield draw, Wilder said: Everyone can see we've lost Jayden and we lost George [Baldock] o we've got a couple of young kids in there. Sam Curtis we feel is just not ready to play at the top of the Championship so he's got a loan move and Femi, I'm not so sure he's going to play 46 games for us.

“So that's definitely a position we need to fill. There's some positions we definitely need to fill. We've lost some forward players as well, so we'll keep working away and try and do our best. There's been players in certain positions mentioned and we have to wait and see and work as hard as we have done to fill those slots.”

Asked specifically about speculation that there had been an issue with Hoever’s move, Wilder replied: “I'm not going to talk about individual players, just positions that we know as a football club we need to fill.”