Sheffield United's promotion rivals make progress before transfer deadline day

Leaders Burnley issued an early statement of intent by completing four new signings before entering the final 24 hours of the window with Michael Obafemi joining Lyle Foster, Hjalmar Ekdal and Ameen Al-Dakhil at Turf Moor. Their arrivals saw manager Vincent Kompany’s employers achieve all of the key objectives their manager presented to the board of directors over the Christmas period which should, barring a catastrophic drop in form, ensure they are competing at Premier League level against next term.

MORE: Berge tells United he is happy to stay

Twelve points clear of third place ahead of Saturday’s visit to Rotherham, United are clear favourites to join them. But the narrative surrounding Heckingbottom’s squad changed following the news his club has been prohibited from registering new signings after failing to meet the repayments on a deal understood to pre-date the 45-year-old’s appointment 14 months ago. Facing a race against time to extricate themselves from the situation or be hit with further sanctions by the English Football League, that outstanding debt set in motion the chain of events which saw Sander Berge withdrawn from the squad which drew 3-3 with Wrexham in the FA Cup on Sunday.

MORE: Boss still monitoring duo despite transfer blow

Heckingbottom had repeatedly stressed before the visit to north Wales that he believed it would be a mistake to tinker with the options at his disposal. But he conceded, during his pre-match media briefing last week, that “selling” a player or players was one of the options available to United’s hierarchy in order to avoid being prohibited from completing any new registrations for a further 12 months.

Watford, among the group of teams hoping to hunt down United, will be observing events in South Yorkshire closely. And, given the situation which has developed there behind the scenes, suddenly feel a lot more confident of making up ground on Heckingbottom’s men.

Centre-forward Britt Assombalonga has returned to Vicarage Road on a short term deal while seven other new faces were unveiled before the final 24 hours of the January market. One of those was Ismael Kone, previously of Montreal, who had been set to join United when Berge appeared destined to be sold at the beginning of the campaign only to remain in situ. Given recent developments, the sight of the Canadian midfielder moving to Hertfordshire will be a source of frustration for Heckingbottom whose recruitment department had compiled a detailed dossier on the youngster’s progress at the Saputo Stadium.

MORE: How close Kone came to becoming a Blade

Watford have also bolstered their defence, with former Hibernian centre-half Ryan Porteous and Joao Ferreira, previously of Benfica B, arriving for a combined total of around £2.7m.

Middlesbrough, a point above Slaven Bilic’s men entering the latest round of fixtures, also decided to reprofile their squad after placing Michael Carrick in charge. Dan Barlaser’s arrival from Rotherham followed the capture of Cameron Archer on loan from Aston Villa before the market began to wind down.