Chris Wilder teases post-deadline Sheffield United transfer activity as EFL issues loom | OneFootball

Sheffield United have had a positive January transfer window, but their work may not yet be done

Chris Wilder has revealed Sheffield United’s potential plan to deal with a squad issue thrown up by the club’s January transfer activity.

It was a positive window for the Blades, which saw them bring in Joe Rothwell, Kalvin Phillips, Ki-Jana Hoever and Leo Hjelde.

However, EFL rules mean fitting all four loanees into the squad, along with their current cohort, could mean leaving somebody else out.

Wilder was asked how he and his backroom staff plan to resolve the issue, and he revealed a couple of ideas the club currently have.

EFL rules give Sheffield United a squad headache

The league’s rules state that clubs can only name a maximum of 25 players over 21 years old in their squad, with loanees of any age counting towards that number.

The signing of Rothwell on deadline day pushed the Blades’ current number to 26, meaning somebody will have to be left out ahead of the Thursday deadline for submitting an updated squad list.

That’s not all, as the signings of Hjelde, Hoever and Phillips take United’s loan count to six, with a maximum of five allowed in any single matchday squad.

It means that not only will one player need to be left out of the squad completely, at least one loanee will have to sit out of Championship action every week.

How Chris Wilder plans to deal with squad registration issue

Speaking about the issue, as quoted by The Star, Wilder said: “We’ll possibly look at [deregistering a player].

“The window’s still open [in some countries], so there might be an opportunity of maybe one or two going out.

“We'll look at the injury list as well to see where we are with that, but it'll be late on. Maybe it’ll only be one, and that one might be going out as well.”

While the transfer window around the world could present a way around the problem in terms of Thursday squad submission, the loanee problem is likely going to have to be dealt with on a week-by-week basis, depending on fitness and Wilder’s preferences.

Chris Wilder is happy with the Blades’ January business

Save for that slight administrative headache heading into Monday night’s clash against promotion battlers Middlesbrough, the Blades boss is pleased with his winter business.

“We worked hard to get in Leo, who covers centre-half and left-back,” he said. “Joe was one that we tracked and Kalvin, we talked about a long time ago.

“We’re now well stocked in all areas. We’ve got competition off the left, we’ve got competition off the right, we’ve got competition down the middle.

“The middle part is now really strong. I’m looking forward to working with Joe, and I think it will give us a great lift with him and Kalvin coming into the group.

“They’re humble boys, but they’ve had fabulous careers, and they’re winners.”

Hjelde has already made his Blades debut with a six-minute cameo in the side’s 3-1 win over Oxford United, but Rothwell and Phillips still await their first outing.

The former Rangers man has not played since a cup meeting with Celtic at the start of November, with Phillips’ last contribution with Manchester City stretching back even further, to a seven-minute appearance against Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup.