Sheffield United boss provides Reda Khadra clarity as player eyes Brighton return

The future of the German loanee has been up in the air after he was left out of United’s last two matchday squads, with Heckingbottom admitting he would sanction his return to the south coast this month if he is able to sign a replacement.

Khadra’s loan spell has not worked out how any of the three parties involved would have liked, with the highly-rated German U21 international starting only a handful of games for Heckingbottom’s side.

Asked ahead of this weekend’s trip to Millwall if he expects Khadra to leave this month, Heckingbottom replied: “Yeah, possibly. Reda would like to go, I've had conversations with Brighton, but as I said to both, I want to bring someone in in that position.

"The thing is with the deal, we haven't got money available. So that's the difficulty; weighing up someone wanting to go and having a gap in the squad.”

One possible replacement for Khadra in the United squad could be Will Osula, whose loan spell at Derby County was officially terminated earlier this week. Heckingbottom admitted part of the decision was the uncertainty over Khadra’s future.

"And I wanted him to have more game time and wanted to see where he is,” Heckingbottom added, ahead of his side’s trip to The Den to take on Millwall in the third round of the FA Cup.

“Lots of reasons.

"Will has featured for us in the past and I enjoy working with him. That's not an issue, we've done that. But if Will plays for us before the window shuts he can't go out again. We want to protect ourselves but also make sure we can keep younger players, if we feel they can't contribute to us, playing games somewhere else.”