Paul Heckingbottom makes admission over out-of-contract Sheffield United players

A host of senior players, including Oli Norwood, John Fleck, Oli McBurnie, Ben Osborn, Billy Sharp and Wes Foderingham have entered the last six months of their deals. Some contain extension clauses.

Some have also been offered new terms, but the slow nature of discussions - due in part to a lack of clarity regarding the club's future - has inevitably meant that several will be 'covering their bases'.

Heckingbottom said: "It's not them not committing; we are not in a position to do anything. I have made it clear - and everyone at the club understands - that they are playing for us, but themselves as well.

"In the position you are in, you are always playing for yourself and I am sure their agents are speaking to clubs and there's a lot of clubs who know their situation.

"When we get to know what's happening (regarding the ownership), it's the first thing on the agenda, without a doubt."

One player whose future definitely looks to be away from S2 is loanee Reda Khadra, who is keen to return to parent club Brighton.

Before he leaves, United would like to secure a replacement first.The uncertainty has also been cited as one of the reasons why young striker Will Osula has been recalled from his loan spell at Derby.

On whether Khadra will leave, Heckingbottom, without McBurnie, Fleck, Max Lowe and Ciaran Clark for the FA Cup tie at Millwall, said: “Yes, possibly. Reda would like to go, I've had conversations with Brighton, but as I said to both, I want to bring someone in in that position.

"The thing is with the deal, we haven't got money available. So that's the difficulty; weighing up someone wanting to go and having a gap in the squad. Will has featured for us in the past and I enjoy working with him. That's not an issue, we've done that.

"But if Will plays for us before the window shuts, he can't go out again. We want to protect ourselves but also make sure we can keep younger players. If we don't think they can contribute to us, we want to make sure we can keep them playing games somewhere else."