The latest Sheffield United signing news and a look at this summer’s recruitment

Sheffield United are set to confirm their retained squad ahead of their final Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur at Bramall Lane on Sunday afternoon.

According to reports from Alan Nixon, the Blades will part ways with Wes Foderingham, Max Lowe and Jordan Amissah. Meanwhile, The Star claimed Oliver Norwood will also leave Bramall Lane after six successful years at the club. Another modern Blades legend, George Baldock, will bid farewell to S2 as he looks set to sign for Greek Super League side Panathinaikos.

The players to be retained are Jayden Bogle, Ben Osborn and Rhys Norrington-Davies, who had clauses in their contracts, Nixon said.

Information still remains on the surface regarding the futures of Adam Davies, John Egan, Daniel Jebbison and Oli McBurnie.

Supporters have been waiting for contract news regarding Jebbison for some time after Chris Wilder publicly expressed that it was a strong deal for the 20-year-old. However, that was more than a week ago and some fans believe it took too long, meaning he will reject new terms with the Blades.

Next season’s squad will look very different indeed; If you factor in the sale of Cameron Archer and the likely sale of Anel Ahmedhodzic and Vinicius Souza, as well as loan players returning to their parent clubs, the Blades could see a further 16 players leave the club.

This is a concern as there are also plenty of rumors that Sheffield United would struggle to keep hold of both Oli Arblaster and Gustavo Hamer this summer.

The Blades are looking to bring in a tremendous amount of new players and will need to bed down quickly in pre-season; United will not want to start next season with a struggle considering they already start the upcoming campaign with -2 points.

That’s why I think Chris Wilder and the new recruitment team will be looking to bring in experienced Championship players such as: Luke Ayling, Lewis O’Brien, Alex Mowatt and Alan Browne. The more experienced they are at this level, the more equipped they will be to adapt to fresh surroundings.

Sheffield United cannot risk signing a large number of players from abroad, such as Anis Slimane, Benie Traore, Vinicius Souza and Yasser Larouci, and hope they can adapt to the English game. They don’t have time for that.

While the likes of Ayling, O’Brien, Mowatt and Browne are not Premier League standard, in my view their profiles would certainly help steady the ship and can provide invaluable knowledge to some of the youngsters in their positions.

However, with the experienced players, Sheffield United must use the loans effectively. And by effective I don’t just mean: make sure they fit the structure – I mean: it has to be an end goal of it. For example, the Blades will be one of the favorites to sign Liam Delap on loan this summer, putting an option in his contract where United can choose to sign him for £10m if they win promotion to the Premier League.