The Blades had been linked with out-of-contract forward Andre Ayew but in order to do that, they would have had to leave a senior player off their squad list after a summer recruitment drive took them up to the maximum 25 players.

Manager Paul Heckingbottom has decided against that, and will now have to stick to the group he currently has.

There is no danger of him being caught short of numbers, though, with clubs allowed to name an unlimited number of back-up players under the age of 21. The Blades have registered 54, including summer signings James McAtee and Benie Traore, and others with first-team experience such as Antwoine Hackford, Daniel Jebbison, Will Osula and Femi Seriki. Zach Giggs, son of Ryan, is also included alongside Louie Marsh, named despite being on loan at Doncaster Rovers.

EXEMPT: James McAtee's age mean he does not have to be on Sheffield United's 25-man squad list to be available in the first half of the season

The list can be adjusted when the transfer window reopens in January. Those club with spare places in their 25 can sign players who have been out of contract since before the last transfer deadline.

SQUAD LIST: Anel Ahmedhodzic, Jordan Amissah, Cameron Archer*, George Baldock*, Chris Basham*, Anis Ben Slimane, Jayden Bogle*, Rhian Brewster*, Ismaila Coulibaly, Adam Davies*, Tom Davies*, Vinicius Souza, John Egan*, John Fleck, Wes Foderingham*, Gustavo Hamer, Yasser Larouci*, Max Lowe*, Oli McBurnie*, Rhys Norrington-Davies*, Oliver Norwood*, Ben Osborn*, Jack Robinson*, Luke Thomas*, Auston Trusty.

* Home-grown players

No free agents for Sheffield United as they name squad list for first half of the Premier League season