Sheffield United outline their in-depth transfer process as Reda Khadra pursuit continues

United have signed four new faces this summer but their manager is hungry for more – including the Brighton winger Reda Khadra, who Heckingbottom insisted he is “confident” will be a Blade next season despite acknowledging there is work to be done on the deal.

As The Star reported recently, United would be open to negotiating an option to buy into the loan deal to bring Khadra to South Yorkshire, and while United officials remain locked in dialogue with their counterparts at Brighton over the German youngster, other plates are also spinning in the transfer market.

Despite spending two of the last three seasons in the Premier League, United’s financial situation has limited them to one permanent cash signing this summer, with Heckingbottom and his recruitment team forced to adopt a different approach to prospective transfer targets rather than simply seducing them with cold, hard cash.

“I have been clear from January onwards, what we want, what positions we would need to bring in,” Heckingbottom said.

“We shared that with the board and we have been working on lots of things. The board provided the clarity on what we have to work with and within days of getting that, we were able to push forward and make things happen.

MORE: 17 realistic transfer targets United fans want to see signed

“You need to work together and make sure we can capitalise. Whatever the pool of fish that we are trying to catch, we have to be experts in it.

“I have been pleased with how that has gone so far in getting in front of players and trying to impress some good players, and we have impressed some good players who have wanted to come. We just need to get a few more.”

It was an approach that almost delivered Tom Lawrence to Bramall Lane, with the former Derby man keen to join United ahead of more lucrative offers in the Championship before Glasgow Rangers, in the words of Heckingbottom, “blew everyone else out of the water” with the size of their offer.

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