Sheffield United warned about the transfer market this summer
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Despite securing promotion from the Championship with three matches to spare, Heckingbottom is bracing himself for an “anxious” few months as he attempts to ensure United’s squad is equipped for Premier League football.
Although his recruitment budget was cut ahead of last term, following a penalty shoot out defeat to Nottingham Forest in the play-off semi-finals, Heckingbottom attributed the success of what proved an intelligent and efficient reprofiling exercise to the “clarity” he received about how much funding would be placed at his disposal. That enabled him to quickly broker a deal for Malmo defender Anel Ahmedhodzic whilst acquiring goalkeeper Adam Davies on a free.
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Hide AdBut with the top-flight campaign not scheduled to finish until later this month and United’s finances known to be stretched - they were banned from processing any new registrations in January after defaulting on payments owed to rival clubs - Heckingbottom said: “Things won’t start moving quickly in terms of players coming in, I don’t think. It will be slower and harder than last time. I know how we managed our recruitment and what we did then. We brought in a player where we needed youth in a position and also one of our own (Ahmedhodzic) but we didn’t need to do too much.”
The overwhelming majority of the business Heckingbottom has performed since taking charge 18 months ago has focused around loans, with Newcastle’s Ciaran Clark and Manchester City duo Tommy Doyle and James McAtee arriving in South Yorkshire before the start of the 2022/23 campaign. But the situation facing the former Barnsley, Leeds and Hibernian chief and his coaching staff has been complicated by the fact that they - together with 11 soon-to-be out of contract players are all entering the closing stages of their agreements with United. Coupled with that, there is also uncertainty surrounding the futures of Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge, who are about to enter the final year of their existing deals. Budgetary restrictions and owner Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s apparent desire to sell his shareholding effectively prevented Heckingbottom from negotiating any of those contracts last season, although United insist some of those about to become become free agents are subject to extension clauses loaded in the club’s favour.
Heckingbottom would like to bring both McAtee and Doyle back to South Yorkshire, although in order for that to happen PL rules dictate at least one must be purchased on a permanent basis.
Stressing that he will again need to be active in the temporary transfer market, Heckingbottom said: “It’s going to be very similar this season but we are going up a level and it’s the calibre of player we’re going to need - that’s the challenge that makes it harder, because we need that quality to be there.”