Chris Wilder: Sheffield United hoping to make three more signings this month

Sheffield United are targeting Bayer Leverkusen central defender Panagiotis Retsos, Genk central midfielder Sander Berge and Changchun Yatai forward Richairo Zivkovic, and are believed to be close, with the first two players spotted in the city.

Retsos would be a loan move, Berge a club record signing.

Although Wilder was refusing to name names of confirm offers, he did say he is confident of completing three more deals.

There could be further outgoings too, starting with Kean Bryan, but Wilder says he is surprised there has not yet been any interest in centre-forward Leon Clarke.

“I'm looking to get three over the line, and I'm confident we can do that, working away, it is tough of course and I wouldn’t expect to be any different,” said Wilder. “I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m getting up at the crack of dawn and going to bed in the early hours. You have to do that to make things happen and improve the club in the windows.”

Wilder has already signed free agent centre-back Jack Rodwell and Nottingham Forest defender Jack Robinson, but he is determined not to stand still after a start to the season which has confounded expectations.

“It's important to strengthen when we're going well,” said Wilder, whose team are eighth in their first season back in the Premier League. “We are going well, and we want to push on and add to the group, we're working away on deals within our budget to strengthen the group.”

Forward Callum Robinson has made way, joining West Bromwich Albion on loan until the start of the season, but Wilder insists the summer signing is still part of his longer-term thinking.

“Callum is a young player we identified over a number of years,” he said. “He got off to a great start and is going to be a player here for a number of years.

“We thought in best interests of his development. With where he’s at, he needs to get regular football and that opportunity came in the Championship.

“The form of (Lys) Mousset, (David) McGoldrick, Oli McBurnie and certainly Billy Sharp has pushed Callum down the pecking order a bit from the start of season so that decision was made.

“I think it’s a really good move to a fantastic club under a great manager, hopefully he develops there and we feel the benefits of that in the future.”

Defender Bryan is yet to make a league appearance for the Blades since joining from Oldham Athletic in August 2018, and has joined Bolton Wanderers on loan until the end of the season.

“There's been no offers for Leon, which I’m surprised about – genuinely, no enquiries," said Wilder.

“I think he’s a brilliant January signing.

“If he doesn’t go, we’ll see where we are in terms of the 25-man squad and if we need a spot filling he’ll be a part of that. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone came in for him because if you need to get out or stay in a division he’d be ideal.

“I'm not doing this to move him out doing this from my view how Leon’s been for us as a player and as a boy.”

Wilder was unhappy that Match of the Day said last week Sharp had been told he could leave. His stance has always been that he would not stand in the captain's way were he to ask to go in search of more regular football, but that has not been the case.

In amongst all the transfer talk, the Blades also have a game to prepare for, at Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.

“It's a tough against trip a team in and around us,” said Wilder. “We'll have to do a lot of things, they've got lot of talented players and a manager (Roy Hodgson) I have a huge amount of respect for, a guy who’s been doing it for so long in the top divisions in the world.

“David McGoldrick took a bit of a setback in the week. We'll assess that today.

“Hopefully he'll be okay for the weekend and if not, we'll go with what we’ve got.”

The transfer window closes at 11pm on Friday.