Sheffield United sent transfer warning over eight-goal hotshot after takeover delay scuppered summer switch

Sheffield United have been sent a transfer warning over one of their former targets ahead of the January transfer window. The Blades will be in the market for reinforcements when the market reopens for business, especially if they can maintain their stunning early-season form in the race for the Premier League.

The level of business will hinge on whether their long-running takeover saga is resolved in time, with a US consortium looking to complete a £105m deal to buy the Blades from current owner Prince Abdullah. The would-be new owners and their football advisor have already drawn up recruitment plans for the window should they gain the keys to Bramall Lane in time, but the delay in getting the deal done cost them a target in the summer.

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We understand that the Blades agreed a deal to sign Ricky-Jade Jones from Peterborough United in the summer should the takeover be done in time, a deadline which came and went. The Blades of course did raid London Road to sign Harrison Burrows in a cut-price bargain deal, and Jones was also targeted with his contract also set to expire at the end of the current campaign.

But United were not able to get the Jones deal done and have seen the 22-year-old score eight goals for Posh so far this season already, which will only increase the interest in him ahead of the January sales. Posh are also resigned to losing midfielder Kwame Poku in January after a club-record contract offer was turned down, with their club policy to cash in on players approaching free agent status rather than risk them walking away for nothing.

"It’s lift off time for Ricky,” Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony admitted recently to our sister ‘paper, the Peterborough Telegraph. “Ricky has added regular goals to his game and he will be a striker everyone wants to buy in January. A club agreed to buy him in the summer, but their takeover didn’t go through on time and now his price has gone up. Ricky could go for even more than Kwame as he’s been with us since he was seven.”

Jones - who has previously been linked with Newcastle United amongst a host of other clubs - is known as the fastest player in League One and has clocked a 100m time of 10.9 - less than 1.4 seconds slower than Usain Bolt’s world record over the same distance. MacAnthony claimed earlier in the summer that six clubs in total tried to buy Jones before the new season started, with Posh protected by the prospect of a tribunal-decided fee.