Some Sheffield United contracts have already been extended

Eleven members of the squad Paul Heckingbottom led to automatic promotion from the Championship, as well as loanees Tommy Doyle, James McAtee and Ciaran Clark, were set to leave Bramall Lane later this summer after reaching the end of their agreements.

United officials spent the second half of the campaign briefing that many of those about to become free agents had signed agreements which entitled the club to retain their services for at least another year. But a number of agents with clients on United’s books have since revealed that directors were bound by clauses which guaranteed the people they represent another season in South Yorkshire once they made a predetermined number of appearances.

Although the situation will be welcomed by Heckingbottom, who has publicly admitted he wants the core of his team to remain intact as it prepares re-enter the Premier League, United now face the unenviable prospect of being forced to renegotiate a huge number of new deals before Christmas or risk seeing some of their most valuable performers leave for nothing. After using a series of interviews over the Christmas period to underline the importance of “good” short, medium and long-term planning, Heckingbottom is now expected to petition United’s board to address an issue which his predecessor Chris Wilder once vociferously stated is “vital” to the “health” of any successful PL or EFL outfit. “You need to be the ones with the power,” he told reporters, soon after taking charge in 2016. “The power needs to be loaded towards us not, with all due respect, the lads and their reps. We need to be in control of our own destiny and that’s what we’re aiming to do.”

A number of issues, including uncertainty surrounding United’s future ownership and the transfer embargo they were placed until during the January window, have altered that power balance of late.

Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge, two of United’s most influential performers, are both about to enter the final year of their present arrangements which has inevitably affected their market value.