Chris Wilder's verdict on Sheffield United's big summer transfer rebuild after "exciting" admission

Chris Wilder remains "super confident" that Sheffield United's anticipated summer rebuild can be a success after insisting that Bramall Lane remains a "fabulous place to come and play football" despite the Blades' Premier League struggles. A big summer awaits for the Blades, regardless of the division they find themselves in, with the number of players out of contract well into double figures.

United will also lose Cameron Archer if they are relegated due to a pre-agreed buy-back agreement with Aston Villa while key men including Oli McBurnie, George Baldock and John Egan are all in the final six months of their present deal. United have been trying to renegotiate McBurnie's terms for months now and are now moving onto the futures of some other senior teammates after the closing of the January transfer window and a priority of tying up several young starlets.

Wilder moved to address the goalkeeping situation by signing Ivo Grbic on a long-term deal recently - with Wes Foderingham, Adam Davies and Jordan Amissah all out of contract in the summer - while Ben Brereton Diaz and Mason Holgate, his other two pieces of January transfer window business, arrived on short-term loan deals.

"The main window is in the summer. We’ve got a lot of boys out of contract and I’m super confident that we can rebuild," said Wilder. "I still think this is a fabulous place to come and play football. Even now, I’m getting people talking to Tom Davies and he’s saying: 'He’s available and he’s available’.

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"This is a club that is still fighting and is still very attractive to come and play for. We get brilliant support at home and away and have had that right through my time here. Plus the way we coach and manage as well is attractive to players, whether they’re loan players or permanent.

"I don’t see an issue in attracting players – what we have to do is get the recruitment absolutely spot on and culturally get that right as well. That doesn’t mean we’re fishing one pond, but I’m super-confident that, medium to long term, we can nail that down. There’s no reason why we can’t do that, regardless of what division we’re in."

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Wilder is enthused about the future of the football club, with Andre Brooks, Jili Buyabu, Femi Seriki and Antwoine Hackford all committing their futures to the Blades last month and hopes that Oli Arblaster and Daniel Jebbison will follow suit. But United must be wary of striking the balance between youth and experience, with multiple Championship promotion-winner Ollie Norwood also in the final months of his current deal.

"There are seven or eight fabulous young players here as well coming through and to have that group next season, whether we’re in the Premier League or Championship, wanting to play for me and the football club is incredibly important," Wilder added.

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"That excites us as a coaching staff and my message to the supporters is that, inwardly, we’re really looking forward to working with these players. But the kids need the culture carriers with them as well – the experienced boys who know how to win football matches.

"There will be a lot of work in the summer. The board understand that there are a lot of players out of contract and that we might be in two different divisions. The board have to be realistic as well – we all have to. But you can’t just turn up and think: ‘We’re in this division now, let’s get rocking and rolling’.

"You have to look at the players who you want to carry on that journey and who deserve to be on that. There are some big decisions to be made, definitely, and certainly a lot of hard work needs to go into that. The sole focus is on the next game, but there’s still work going on in the background all the time to construct, or have an idea, how that looks going into next season."