Paul Heckingbottom's Sheffield United squad plans and contracts hampered by lack of clarity

Paul Heckingbottom says he cannot make a decision on the players he would like to keep on for next season until he learns his budget for that campaign. United have eight players with deals expiring in the summer and some talks have already started.

However, Heckingbottom says he has not been able to tell all of those eight what their future at the club holds due to a lack of clarity around finances for next season. The possibility of promotion means he is yet to learn how much money he will have to play with, which in turn is having a knock-on effect on his squad building for the 2022-23 campaign.

Billy Sharp, Chris Basham, David McGoldrick, Ben Osborn, Lys Mousset, Adam Davies, Luke Freeman and Jack Robinson are all out of contract on June 30. Sharp revealed recently that he has held discussions with the Sheffield United hierarchy over extending his stay.

For others, they may have to wait as the Blades boss reveals he is yet to be in a position where he can make those decisions and it may have to drag on into the summer before he knows exactly what the make-up of his squad will look like.

"No [decided yet], because the division, the budget is what decides everything," he told Yorkshire Live. "We have players who we are speaking to about staying, who have options and it's easy to do, we have got players out of contract, we have got loan players.

"We have positions we need filling in the summer, whether that's from the boys here or we need to look elsewhere. We need to understand how much money we have got to fill those positions, what league we are in and what calibre of player is available for those positions.

"It will be my decision. This summer we'll be taking up options on players if we can, we'll still need