Sheffield United set for "toughest" transfer window in years as priorities emerge
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Speaking before it emerged he could have only £20m to spend this summer, although that figure could change depending upon events behind the scenes, Heckingbottom admitted that a variety of factors threaten to make this summer’s market one of the most competitive in years.
Senior figures from United and United World - the organisation owner Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud used to oversee his portfolio of sporting interests - met with Heckingbottom in Geneva last week to discuss his recruitment strategy, with the 45-year-old also understood to have used to get together to petition for the overwhelming majority of those players whose contracts are set to expire to receive extensions.
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Hide AdAlthough Heckingbottom maintains that knowing exactly how much he will have to spend is more important than the amount itself - “That way, we can make plans and get on with them” - he said: “I think this is going to be a tough window, really tough in fact, for everyone and not just us. There’s reasons for that. The (PL) season doesn’t finish until late, because of the World Cup break we had last year, and then everything rolls back to normal so the turnaround for a lot of clubs is going to be really fast. They won’t make decisions on a lot of their players until they know who they can get in themselves, so that could kick everything back a bit later than usual. Price-wise, I think it’s going to be really competitive as well.”
Heckingbottom is expected to focus on loan and free signings, complemented by a select number of permanent acquisitions, in order to strengthen the options at his disposal. Midfield and attack are his two priority areas, although a new centre-half is also expected to feature on his shopping list.
“We’re going to have to work well, but we’ve shown we can do that,” said Heckingbottom, who has paid a fee for only one player since being appointed 18 months ago. “This is the level we’re competing at now, the one where we wanted to be.”