Sheffield United: The rival offers Filip Uremovic rejected to seal Bramall Lane switch

Speaking ahead of Friday’s game against Reading, which is expected to see the 25-year-old make his third appearance for Paul Heckingbottom’s side, the United manager confirmed South Yorkshire was not the only escape route offered to the centre-half after he decided to leave Rubin Kazan.

As an overseas player competing in Russia, Uremovic was permitted to suspend his contract with Leonid Slutsky’s side following Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade neighbouring Ukraine.

Praising the work of United’s transfer negotiation team as they pushed the deal over the line, Heckingbottom told The Star: “He had options in other countries. We were delighted to bring Filip here and even more so when you know there was competition.

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“Obviously he was allowed to park his deal there (with Kazan) but things still had to be negotiated and we still had to get permission. So well done to the people here who were able to do that - seriously, well done to them because I know it wasn’t as easy as some people might think.”

Capped six times by his country at senior level, Uremovic had been tracked by United’s recruitment department for several seasons before finally moving to England. Although his agreement with Heckingbottom’s side is scheduled to expire on June 30, the former Barnsley, Leeds and Hibernian chief would welcome the prospect of working with Uremovic beyond that date. However, given the situation in eastern Europe, it remains unclear if FIFA will force him to return to Kazan or declare his deal there null and void should hostilities continue.

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“His contract there is just suspended,” continued Heckingbottom, amid confusion about whether or not Uremovic is scheduled to become a free agent soon anyway. “I don’t know the ins and the outs, only that I know it had to be granted permission. I don’t know if he did that unilaterally or if it was with Rubin’s agreement. But what I do know is that it had to be granted permission and that the next step, a lot of good work went off to allow that to happen.”

United enter the meeting with Paul Ince’s side ranked sixth in the Championship table with five matches of their regular season remaining. They then visit Bristol City on Easter Monday before facing Cardiff City, Queens Park Rangers and Fulham.

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Heckingbottom, who is confident but not cocksure about United’s hopes of qualifying for the play-offs, presented the board with a sketch of his summer recruitment plans earlier this month.

“Filip, we had conversations with him and it was great to hear that he was really keen to come here,” Heckingbottom said. “I don’t know if that was because we’d been interested in him for a while but, whatever, it was good to hear.”

“I’m confident about how we approach players and that we can get our hooks into them,” he added. “Then it’s just about getting everything else aligned and seeing how quickly you can get it done.”