This is when Sheffield United expect to receive their first Premier League payment

Paul Heckingbottom and his squad guaranteed their employers a payday of at least £170m over the course of the next three years by gaining promotion from the Championship last season. That figure, which factors in parachute payments should United be relegated, will rise if United avoid an immediate return to the second tier as they did after reaching the highest level in 2019.

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Although delegates from Bramall Lane attended a recent PL meeting, where members voted to relax the rules relating to signings from overseas, the South Yorkshire club must wait until Heckingbottom’s team return to preseason training before beginning to bank the cash. This is standard practice, with further backing from the governing body being spread across the course of the campaign.

However, fines are automatically deducted if a number of obligations are not met; including the staging of regular pre-match media conferences and timely access to managers and members of the playing staff following matches.

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Around £20m has been made available to Heckingbottom by the board, in order to bolster the options at his disposal and ensure United are competitive. A small number of permanent acquisitions are set to be made. But the majority of Heckingbottom’s business could come in the loan market, where Everton’s Mason Holgate and Manchester City duo Tommy Doyle and James McAtee feature among the targets he has presented to owner Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

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