Sheffield United urged to expand key aspect of their overseas operations

Identifying players capable of enhancing the squad’s skill sets has become a feature of Paul Heckingbottom’s regime, with chief talent spotter Paul Mitchell’s expertise also helping the 45-year-old make precious few mistakes when identifying reinforcements.

Although United have established contacts abroad who feed into their tracking systems, which Mitchell and his colleagues use to calculate not only potential targets but also the most opportune moment to try and sign them, Heckingbottom accepts that his employers would benefit from enjoying even more eyes and ears in regions such as Europe and Africa.

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“We’ve got people, yes of course,” said Heckingbottom. “You see others with huge operations but that’s because they’ve got the resources available to them for that and we’re working in different areas to a lot of them. It’s something, mind, that we might look at when we can because I think we’ve shown there are opportunities to be had.”

Anel Ahmedhodzic, the Bosnia and Herzegovina international United acquired from Malmo last summer, is the best example of how Heckingbottom and his assistants can spot bargains in different countries. Ahmedhodzic, who commanded a fee of around £3m when he arrived in South Yorkshire, is now worth considerably more after impressing during United’s promotion from the Championship. But the season before last, Filip Uremovic also helped Heckingbottom’s side reach the play-offs after agreeing a short term switch from Rubin Kazan. The Croatian, now of Hertha Berlin, had been allowed to freeze his contract with the Russians following the outbreak of war between the Kremlin and Ukraine.

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Algerian Haris Belkebla, who is likely to leave Brest shortly, has been linked with United by the French media.

United World, the organisation United owner Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud uses to oversee his portfolio of sporting interests, is known to have created a technical and recruiting department which is designed to run parallel to those in operation at Beerschot, Chateauroux, Al-Hilal United and Kerala United as well the ones in South Yorkshire overseen by Mitchell. However, Heckingbottom would like to see United expand their own work in this field; particularly as Prince Abdullah has admitted he will consider any suitable offers for his shareholding.

Representatives of UW are thought to have been present at the meeting Heckingbottom and Prince Abdullah attended in Geneva, Switzerland, last month to help plot United’s preparations for their PL return. With Mitchell’s friend and confidant Jared Dublin recently taking up a senior position at Reading, United are expected to hire a replacement for the American.

Despite confirming his focus will primarily be on domestic markets as United brace themselves for top-flight football, Heckingbottom said: “We want good people as well as good players, and that’s why we always do our homework before bringing anyone in. We want them to have the same outlook and principles as the lads already here. To buy into the same things. That’s why it’s good to have people you can speak to, one to one, before doing something. To find out about what they’re like.”

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