Sheffield United: When bid for Reda Khadra was first discussed
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The 21-year-old became the fourth new face to arrive at Bramall Lane this summer when he arrived on a season long deal from Brighton and Hove Albion, although a purchase option has been written into the agreement.
Khadra, who is expected to make his debut against Watford on Monday, was on target for Rovers during their win over United at Ewood Park last term. It was soon after that result, which The Star later discovered convinced the board to sack Slavisa Jokanovic and replace him with Heckingbottom, that the former Barnsley, Leeds and Hibernian chief began investigating the possibility of signing Khadra.
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Hide Ad“Reda was someone that we knew,” Heckingbottom said. “We had discussions about him and I remember speaking to the board about those. Those obviously picked up over the summer and we’ve been lucky enough to be able to bring him in.”
The deciding factor
Speaking at the Randox Health Academy on Thursday, when he was officially presented to the media, Khadra revealed United’s log-standing interest meant South Yorkshire was always his preferred destination when it became apparent he could leave Brighton.
“I think what every player wants to hear is a plan for the future and Sheffield United were the best to offer me this,” Khadra explained. “And also the fans, great fans, when I came here last time.”
“The fact they waited so long, that was good too,” added Khadra, referring to the complex negotiations between United and his parent club. “It gave me a great feeling. It wasn’t a difficult choice. To be fair, I was just waiting for things to get sorted out.”
The moves
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Hide AdDespite operating under strict financial restraints, Heckingbottom has, on paper at least, been able to strengthen a squad which reached the play-off semi-finals last term. Anel Ahmedhodzic completed a £3m move from Malmo during United’s recent training camp in Portugal, while Manchester City’s Tommy Doyle and Ciaran Clark also joined on loan before Khadra’s switch was confirmed. Goalkeeper Adam Davies accepted the offer of the new contract after his deal expired in June.
“It’s all about the importance of clarity,” Heckingbottom said. “Cutting a budget doesn’t scare me. But one thing you can’t compromise on is the quality of the squad. One thing I can say is having clarity enabled us to get targets identified for the positions that we wanted and Reda, obviously, was one of those.”
“We know we came out of the Premier League that the budget would drop,” added Heckingbottom, after stage managing United’s exit from the top-flight a year ago during a spell in caretaker charge. “Parachute payments dropped when we didn’t get straight back up and we wanted to get the training pitch done.
“So we knew it would basically be free transfers and loans. All I wanted was clarity. Having less budget isn’t scary to me. Not knowing what the budget is, though, is.”