Sheffield United transfer news: Ruben Selles outlines his stance on out-of-contract Rhian Brewster
Sheffield United's contract offer to Rhian Brewster remains on the table but new manager Ruben Selles is not banking on working with the striker.
A move away looks more likely for a player who remained popular with supporters during a difficult and injury-hit time after what could have been, had he achieved his potential, a club record signing in 2020.
Brewster ran his contact down at the end of last month despite the Blades offering a new deal at the end of last season, and has been linked with a move to Sunderland, who beat them in the play-off final to seal a return to the Premier League.
The 25-year-old is not on the Championship club's pre-season training camp in Spain, an important opportunity for Selles to get his ideas across.
It has been a very quiet summer in the transfer market at Bramall Lane, with only two signings and the sale of Vinicius Souza to Wolfsburg contrasting with the managerial upheaval.
“For the moment I am planning for the players that we have right now," Selles told the Sheffield Star in Spain. "We have been talking about certain names... he’s a player that has been in the club in the past and it will always be a possibility.
“We are still working on those things. But I cannot assure (people) one way or the other, we need to continue monitoring the market.
"It’s a market that will be very fluid because of the different competitions going on and other situations – Premier League clubs with the loads.
"So I think that kind of situations, with the free agents, is not going to be right now.”
Bought from Liverpool in a deal that could have been worth £24m in add-ons, Brewster was relegated twice from the Premier League with the Blades and promoted once to it. He scored just nine goals in 119 appearances, 46 of them league starts.
But with Ben Brereton Diaz returning from his loan at Southampton, the Blades are a little light in attacking areas. Winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi has also gone back to Crystal Palace. Although primarily a centre-forward, like Rak-Sakyi, he also played wide on the right.
Tyreese Campbell, Kieffer Moore and Tom Cannon are the remaining options at centre-forward.
Ehije Ukaki, whose attifical-intelligence-sourced arrival from Botev Plovdiv preceded manager Chris Wilder's departure, is a winger but at 19, it is expected the Nigerian will be a development signing.
New Zealander Tyler Bindon, who worked with Selles at Reading, is a centre-back by trade. He has joined on loan from Nottingham Forest.