Sheffield United outline their transfer plans ahead of Premier League return
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Confirming the process of deciding which players will be staying at Bramall Lane this summer is already underway, three days after promotion from the Championship was assured, McCall confirmed Paul Heckingbottom is unlikely to “do a Nottingham Forest” by making a flood of new signings ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.
Instead, suggesting that United are again likely to focus primarily on domestic targets rather than search overseas for reinforcements, McCall pointedly referenced the work Glaswegian giants Rangers and Celtic undertake when assessing potential acquisitions.
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Hide Ad“Rangers and Celtic have done it, people go there and maybe look to come down here, so there are players you can get,” said McCall, who won 10 major trophies as a player at Ibrox. “The foreign market can be difficult, because unless you know someone who has managed them or worked with them. When the chips are down, what are they like? Is he a team player? Does he react well?”
Bosnia and Herzegovina centre-half Anel Ahmedhodzic was the only actual purchase United made last term, with the majority of their business taking place in the loan market.
“With Anel, Jack (Lester, United’s head of player development) knew him from their time together at (Nottingham) Forest,” McCall added. “So we already had that insight there, into all of his background.”
Heckingbottom was scheduled to take part in a conference call with Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud about his recruitment budget ahead of today’s game against Preston North End; United's final home match of the present campaign. Following the apparent collapse of his takeover talks with Nigerian entrepreneur Dozy Mmobuosi, Prince Abdullah has confirmed he is still exploring the possibility of selling his shareholding but has acknowledged the need to begin planning for next term immediately. Although finances are tight at Bramall Lane, United have privately stressed they have no concerns about their ability to pay the performance related bonuses owed to existing members of Heckingbottom’s side following their climb into the top-flight.
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Hide AdPreston are 10th in the table, eight places behind United, but only two points outside the play-off positions.
“The focus now is on finishing a terrific season properly,” McCall said. “We don’t want to finish poorly. We’ve worked really hard. Everyone has played a part. You have got to enjoy it. The manager and the staff, we are looking at who we are going to bring in. we start now, at least we know where we are and what the recruitment is going to look like.”
“We are going to look at the loan market,” he added. “The loans supplemented what we already had. “We won’t be doing a Forest, that’s for sure.
“Contracts and that will be done over the next seven days. Paul has a chat with the owner. It's a fine balancing act, because we still (don’t) know what the budget is going to be. We knew what positions we are going to need, who we are going to keep anyway.”