Sheffield United transfer latest as Blades park former £20m man interest, former targets near rivals move

Sheffield United have parked their interest in Adam Webster, The Star understands, amid concerns over how long the experienced defender could take to get up to speed. The Blades have been scouring the market for centre-half reinforcements throughout the summer.

And we revealed earlier this month that Webster, formerly of Brighton and Hove Albion, emerged as one of the options under consideration as Chris Wilder looks to add both experience and depth to his defence. Webster, without a club after leaving Brighton earlier this summer, even visited Shirecliffe as a deal seemingly edged closer.

But there are understood to be some reservations over the Brighton defender’s current readiness and how quickly he would be able to make an impact, having been without a club throughout pre-season as he battles back from an ACL injury. So United are assessing other options in the market.

Two of the players they had previously admired look to be heading to their Championship rivals Wrexham, who are also admirers of Callum O’Hare. The ambitious Welsh side are hoping to sign both Harry Souttar and Joe Worrall on permanent deals ahead of Tuesday’s 11pm deadline.

Although United were never seen as serious players in the race for Souttar, after offering well below Leicester City’s £10m asking price, Worrall was a more realistic target. The player was keen to make the move to Bramall Lane as well, but United were unable to come up with the funds to make a permanent deal work and Wrexham are looking to take advantage.

United must now look elsewhere. They have Japhet Tanganga, Mark McGuinness and Jamal Baptiste as options at centre-half, while Rhys Norrington-Davies can also operate in a back three.

But Wilder has been clear throughout the summer that he wants to add further competition in that key position, with Baptiste still learning his trade at senior level and McGuinness looking to prove his doubters wrong after a poor first season in South Yorkshire.

Speaking last week about his interest in Webster, Wilder said: “Yeah, he can't get anywhere unless I put a ’tache on him and a hat. So, obviously he's been spotted in and around Sheffield over a couple of days last week.

“I've known Adam for a long time and [he is coming] off the back of a big injury, but not a career-ending injury, ACL at Brighton, out of contract. So, the market that we were looking at and talking about last week is a market of frees and loans. So, he's an interesting one for us.

“So, he came up for a couple of days. So, I can't really deny that, can I? And he's somebody that's of interest to us. We want him to be competing if we do get to that stage.