Sheffield United transfer window state of play: 10+ players needed, departures expected amid takeover limbo
A look at Sheffield United’s summer transfer window priorities amid limbo of US-led takeover bid
The 2024 summer transfer window is now officially open for business but those inside the corridors of power at Bramall Lane are hardly expecting an all-out signings attack given the current takeover limbo Sheffield United find themselves in. A US-led consortium is in talks over a deal to buy the newly-relegated Blades after their return to the Championship.
The prospective new owners have already influenced the decision to withdraw Ben Osborn’s contract option and release the utility player, although the Blades say they are still in negotiations with the Derby-linked midfielder, while speculation about the future of manager Chris Wilder is expected to increase if a change of control happens in the Bramall Lane boardroom.
But United cannot afford to be left behind in what Wilder has already described as the most important transfer window in recent times. If and when a deal is struck with current owner Prince Abdullah, who is keen to remain on board with a minority stake, the takeover will have to be ratified by the EFL - a thorough process that will only be complicated by the presence of more than one individual in the consortium.
As things stand the number of players United need to sign this summer is already in double figures, without taking into account any of the expected sales after relegation. Anel Ahmedhodzic and Vini Souza are expected to depart, with United keen to maximise the value of both assets rather than give them away for cheap. Ivo Grbic has also been made available for transfer, with a move back to Spain the preferred option for the former Atletico Madrid ‘keeper after his failed Bramall Lane move.
The most difficult task for United this summer may be selling rather than buying, with Benie Traore and Anis Slimane also made available for transfer afrer unconvincing starts to life at Bramall Lane. The hope is that the Blades can raise enough from the likes of Ahmedhodzic and Souza to avoid having to sell the family silver in Gus Hamer and Oliver Arblaster, who both enhanced their own personal reputations in a season of collective struggle for the Blades. Hamer, who has a buy-out clause in his contract, was named United’s official player of the year while Arblaster captained his boyhood club towards the back end of the season after cementing his place in the side.
United’s four loan players have returned to their parent clubs, with six officially released and four more - Osborn, Adam Davies, John Egan and Oli McBurnie - facing uncertain futures. All are out of contract but United are keen for Davies to remain and want to keep McBurnie, too, although the takeover is also understood to have delayed hopes of progress with that deal as well.
Egan is still a month away from a return to training following his torn Achilles injury, and the Blades want to see how he recovers before committing themselves to a new deal and the club skipper’s representatives could seek opportunities elsewhere in the meantime. So United’s current squad, as it stands, is light on both numbers and experience.
Grbic remains the only under-contract goalkeeper, after Wes Foderingham and Jordan Amissah were released, with Jayden Bogle and Rhys Norrington-Davies the only senior wing-backs on either flank after their one-year contract options were exercised. The departures of Ollie Norwood and Osborn leave United light in midfield - especially if Souza and Anis Slimane join them through the exit door - while a lack of natural width would hamper any hopes Wilder has of moving away from the 3-5-2 shape that has become commonplace at United in recent years.
Cameron Archer returns to Aston Villa this summer after relegation and the loss of loan star Ben Brereton Diaz, plus McBurnie’s uncertainty and the ever-increasing doubt over whether Daniel Jebbison will put pen-to-paper on a new deal or walk away this summer, makes more offensive firepower a priority as well. Rhian Brewster is the most senior striker currently under contract but is approaching the final year of his deal and will be desperate to put his injury struggles behind him next season.
Will Osula is United’s only other under-contract senior forward, as things stand, but at 20 years old has made just 17 senior starts in his formative career. United’s recruitment team, headed up by Mikey Allen and including new lead scout Jamie Hoyland, have compiled a list of targets but with the prospect of a takeover deal moving the financial goalposts, United are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Do they move early in the window and begin assembling a squad that could have been filled with a better calibre of players later in the window? Or do they hold off waiting for that eventuality, missing out on their initial targets and then be left scrambling towards the end of the window if it doesn’t happen in time? Those are the worst-case scenarios but if supporting United has taught Blades fans anything, it’s to be prepared for that.
As things stand - and anything else is still hearsay and speculation at the minute - Wilder is focusing on free agents and loan players, with a sprinkling of small fees if the right player became available. A big sale or two would bolster the budget but that is also not in United’s control. There have been links to some familiar names, including Lewis O’Brien and Joe Worrall of Nottingham Forest and Paddy McNair, the Middlesbrough man who worked under Wilder at the Riverside.
But United could do a lot worse than revert to their previously successful approach of scouring the lower leagues for promising talent, perhaps with a point to prove. Marc Leonard is available for £300,000 after two impressive loan spells with Northampton Town while Harrison Burrows is another obvious target for the problematic left-wing back position, although Peterborough will drive a notoriously hard bargain for one of their prized assets despite the possibility of losing him for free next summer.
Welcome to the madness of the transfer window. The biggest for a decade at Bramall Lane. Let’s hope it’s the most memorable, too - and only for the right reasons.