Paul Heckingbottom issues Sheffield United transfer warning ahead of important summer window

Paul Heckingbottom says it's in the club's best interests to make permanent signings when the transfer window opens again and should avoid a repeat of last summer's plan. Back then, United relied heavily on loan signings with four players arriving under previous boss Slavisa Jokanovic.

Three players joined from Premier League clubs to bolster their push for promotion in Ben Davies, Conor Hourihane and Morgan Gibbs-White, while Robin Olsen came in from Roma to replace the departing Aaron Ramsdale. Charlie Goode also joined in January from Brentford until the end of the season.

Permanent signings have followed with free agents Adlene Guedioura, who has now departed, Adam Davies and Filip Uremovic putting pen to paper on short-term deals. Seven players are out of contract in the summer and the four remaining loanees will be returning to their parent clubs when the season ends.

Potentially, depending on the outcome of those contract talks, there could be a lot of work to do to the Sheffield United squad in the coming months and although Gibbs-White has arguably been one of the standout players of the season and one of the best loan signings in recent years, Heckingbottom is warning against putting all the club's transfer eggs in one loan basket.

He believes loan signings will only paper over cracks in the squad that need filling permanently and will lead to an iceberg up ahead.

"From a purely selfish point of view as a manager you want the best possible squad, the best possible team," he told Yorkshire Live. "You want to be competitive but from looking after the club's best interests and for the club to make sound decisions we've got key areas of the squad where we haven't got enough of our own players.

"If you are forever