The squad dilemma facing Sheffield United after deadline-day transfer spree as patience pays off over Kalvin Phillips deal
The squad dilemma facing Sheffield United after deadline-day transfer spree as patience pays off over Kalvin Phillips deal
Victory over Oxford United at Bramall Lane on Tuesday evening capped a solid week for Sheffield United, just over 24 hours after the end of an eventful deadline day that saw three players through the entrance door. The Blades signed Leo Hjelde, Kalvin Phillips and Joe Rothwell on the final day of the window.
While the former helps plug the gap caused by the sudden and serious injury blow of losing Sam McCallum for the forseeable future, the latter two help bolster a midfield area that has been plagued by various unavailability issues this season.
Neither men were signed in time to make their debuts in the 3-1 victory over Oxford United but will be involved in next Monday’s home clash with Middlesbrough and take the number of central midfield options at Chris Wilder’s disposal to nearly double figures.
Of course not all of them will often be fit and available at the same time but confirmation of Rothwell’s arrival from Rangers in deadline-day added time took the number of senior players on United’s roster to 26.
EFL rules allow clubs to name a maximum of 25 players over the age of 21, with loan players counting as part of that cohort no matter their age. So United may have to leave someone out of the 25 ahead of Thursday’s noon deadline, unless they can move a player on to one of the markets around the world that remain open for some time yet.
The squad dilemma facing Sheffield United after deadline-day transfer spree as patience pays off over Kalvin Phillips deal
United will also face a situation of leaving one of their six loanees out of each matchday squad, with a separate EFL rule limiting clubs to five temporary players on any one teamsheet. Asked about the deregistration possibility after victory over Matt Bloomfield’s side, Wilder admitted: “We’ll possibly look at it.
“The window’s still open [in some countries around the world] so there might be an opportunity of maybe one or two going out. We'll look at the injury list as well to see where we are with that, but it'll be late on. Maybe it’ll only be one, and that one might be going out as well.”
Sunderland man Hjelde made his Blades bow as a late substitute after signing as cover for McCallum, who United fear could miss between eight and 10 weeks with the injury he sustained at Millwall last weekend and will force him to go under the knife.
“We worked hard to get in Leo, who covers covers centre half and left back, and we’re looking forward to working with him,” Wilder added. “Joe was one that we tracked and Kalvin, we talked about a long time ago.
“So we knew that was floating around and we'd have to be really patient with that. But I think we're now well stocked in all areas. We've got competition off the left, we've got competition off the right, we've got competition down the middle.
“The middle part is now strong. I’m looking forward to working with Joe, and I think it will give us a great lift with him and Kalvin coming into the group. They're humble boys but they've had fabulous careers and they're winners. Hopefully their winning habits and winning traits, and winning experience, will rub onto our players and I think it's a great fit both ways.”