Paul Heckingbottom addresses future of the likes of McBurnie, Fleck and Norwood at Sheffield United | OneFootball

Sheffield United are unable to offer new contracts to players until their proposed takeover is completed according to The Star.

Paul Heckingbottom’s side are not in a position to make contract offers to any of the players who could become free agents at the end of the season until the club’s ownership situation is resolved.

Sixteen players could potentially depart Bramall Lane this summer, either becoming free agents or after completing their loans, with a portion of those agreements including potential extension clauses.

It creates a potentially huge headache for Sheffield United who will hopefulyl planning for a season in the Premier League.

With current owner Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in talks with an unnamed bidder for the Blades, manager Heckingbottom admitted that he is unable to address the contract situation.

Despite indicating that most of those approaching the end of their present deals want to stay at the club, Heckingbottom acknowledged it is vital the situation is “sorted out” as quickly as possible.

He told The Star: “We’re not in that position [to offer contracts].  One hundred percent it’s important it gets resolved. You want as much control over things as possible.

“At the moment, we don’t know what is going to happen (with the possible takeover). So we just have to look after ourselves. We just have to focus on winning games.”

The likes of Oli McBurnie, Oli Norwood, John Fleck and Wes Foderingham are just a selection of the players with deals expiring at the end of the season.

Sheffield United are currently second in the Championship, nine points clear of Blackburn in third place as they look to continue their push for promotion.

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The Verdict

It’s a difficult situation for the Blades but it’s better it happen now rather than in April.

Takeover’s take a long time to complete and it could be months by the time this is resolved, so having a five or six month buffer is important.

It’s also unlikely that the club wouldn’t have had talks with these players, so once the situation is resolved they could well sign the day after.