Sheffield United: How much there is to spend during the transfer window
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Despite insisting that United are not under pressure to sell players after failing to gain promotion back to the Premier League last season, chief executive Steve Bettis told journalists earlier this week the club must remain “sustainable” as it prepares for another season in the second tier.
Although manager Paul Heckingbottom is primarily focused on the temporary and out of contract markets, Bettis said: "There is a level of investment we can make in players as well.
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Hide Ad"I talk a lot about running a sustainable football club. We've always tried to make it work that way and that's how we've done it historically.
"We do not sit here and say, 'We need to sell X in order to survive'. We're saying we want to go again for next season with a limited sum of investment.”
After being relegated from the top-flight last year, United were beaten in the Championship play-off semi-finals by Nottingham Forest having climbed from 16th to fifth in the table following Heckingbottom’s appointment in November.
Citing their receipt of a parachute payment, which will total around £35m next term, as a reason why United will attempt to keep some of their highest earners, Bettis also insisted no bids have been received from existing members of Heckingbottom’s squad. However, that is likely to change over the coming weeks; with rivals attempting to exploit the fact all of its members, including Sander Berge and record signing Rhian Brewster, saw their salaries cut when PL status was surrendered. Some of those reductions are understood to continue the longer United remain in the English Football League, with Heckingbottom’s employers beginning to overhaul their contractual templates before the 44-year-old took charge.
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Hide AdBerge, a Norway international, is expected to attract interest from elsewhere while Iliman Ndiaye could come under scrutiny if he impresses on African Cup of Nations duty with Senegal.
“Not in this window,” Bettis said. “We’ve not had bids for anyone.”