Sheffield United receive future transfer warning after embargo placed by EFL

The Blades confirmed late last week that they had been sanctioned by the English Football League after falling foul of regulation 52.2.3, which governs the payment of transfer monies owed to other clubs.

Under the terms of the embargo United are prevented from signing any players ahead of next week’s transfer deadline, but the sanction will be lifted as soon as the monies due are paid.

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Although it has not been publicly revealed which deal, or deals, the issue concerns, United are known to have – as is common practice in football – paid in instalments for a number of big-money signings made in recent years since their last promotion to the Premier League.

In the last accounts available, up to June 2021, United owed just over £18m in outstanding transfer payments to other clubs and Kieran Maguire, a football finance expert and author of the Price of Football book, told The Star: “To be fair to the EFL, they're a lot more transparent than they used to be and that [the reporting of clubs under embargo] is a change the clubs voted for.

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“If someone is selling a player to Sheffield United, or a player or their agent is thinking of coming, they need to know this.

“Will it make things more difficult this window? It clearly will because of the embargo. When that embargo is lifted, if a club is thinking of sending a player on loan or selling and have a choice of two clubs, and one of them is Sheffield United, and the deal was in instalments, then that's a question for the board of that club to ask itself.

“It certainly doesn't help. And that's why the quicker this is resolved, the better.”

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The embargo situation is complicated by ongoing takeover talks regarding a transfer of power at Bramall Lane to an as-yet unnamed party in talks with Prince Abdullah over taking control of the Blades.

“What I will say,” Maguire added by way of consolation “is that the world of football has a very, very short memory. Especially if you've got new owners in.”

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