Sheffield United: Chief makes a statement about player sales
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Manager Paul Heckingbottom has identified “six or seven” areas of his squad which need reprofiling before the new season gets underway, as he attempts to construct a team capable of winning automatic promotion from the Championship.
With United’s parachute payment set to be cut next term following their defeat in the play-off semi-finals, fears have been expressed that some of the most influential performers at Heckingbottom’s disposal could be lured away as part of a move to raise funds for his recruitment fund or cut costs at Bramall Lane.
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Hide AdConfirming that United are still paying for many of the signings they made during their two year stay in the Premier League under Heckingbottom’s predecessor Chris Wilder - which is standard practice in the football industry - chief executive Steve Bettis denied the 44-year-old will be encouraged to shed more high-earners, after loanees such as Morgan Gibbs-White and Ben Davies returned to their employers earlier this month.
"The club at the moment is operating at a profit but if you then start taking those sums into account it's a negative cashflow,” Bettis said. “That's what the parachute payments are there for because they help to deal with that.
"So there's not a pressure for Paul to sell and there wasn't last season. The owner was very clear: keep the core of the squad together but if an offer does come in that we feel is in excess of our valuation of a player, we'll look at it.”
Citing Aaron Ramsdale’s £26m move to Arsenal before the August deadline as an example of what United regard as a worthwhile sacrifice, Bettis added: “We got to the point where we felt it was too good an offer to turn down.
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Hide Ad"I think it was good business for us and Wes (Foderingham) came in (to the first team) following Aaron's departure and he's been great for us this season.”
The on-going threat
United are believed to have borrowed against a portion of the fee they received for the England goalkeeper, with their subsidy from the PL set to decline from £40m to £35m next term. If United fail to return to the top-flight following the forthcoming campaign, that figure will drop to £15m in year three.
Despite insisting Heckingbottom will not be asked to offload some of his biggest names, the likes of Norway international Sander Berge and Republic of Ireland defender John Egan could all be vulnerable to hostile bids; particularly as rivals will be aware of their salaries were all reduced when United fell out of the top-flight. Although United have been impressed by his attitude, Berge was noticeably non-committal about his future when interviewed by a television station in his homeland recently.
"When you buy a player 99 times out of 100 you don't pay for him in one go,” Bettis said. “You pay for a player over a two to three-year period.
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Hide Ad"Everyone knows we paid £120m, £130m in the Premier League on players but all of that wasn't paid immediately so there's still payments for some of those players that need to be made.
"The reality is, that's what the parachute payments are for.”