Stephen Bettis defends Sheffield United's 26-day delay between selling Iliman Ndiaye and buying Cameron Archer

Cameron Archer was not a direct replacement for the Senegalese international, who joined Marseille for a fee of around £20m, but the perhaps nearest the Blades came to one. Archer is a centre-forward who leads the line, Ndiaye one who drops off into midfield.

Ndiaye was the newly-promoted Premier League club's first big sale of the transfer window, significantly boosting a frugal budget. Along with the departure of Sander Berge to Burnley, it allowed a significant step-up in the quality of players the Bramall Lane club were able to sign.

But whereas Berge's replacement, £15m creative midfielder Gustavo Hamer, came in three days after his departure, the gap between Ndiaye and Archer was 26 days – inevitably leading to speculation as to why.

"We were really close to not selling (Ndiaye) and there was a point where we thought we wouldn't need to replace him in that respect because we thought he was staying," said Bettis.

"Secondly, we were going to do a loan to replace him (when he left) because we felt that was the best way to replace him in terms of going out and getting a top Premier League loan.

"The decision with all the players up top was the best way we thought we could get the most bang for our buck was by going to the loan market. It's later on in the window that they (usually) become available.

"How good a signing was Morgan Gibbs-White (loaned from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2021-22)? We signed him two days before the window closed. That's the way football works and it was a great signing."

Despite only committing to £18m for Archer after Ndiaye's departure, Bettis claimed the money had been spent before it.

"We bought Souza, we bought Trusty," he said. "We'd spent the money. We just didn't spend it replacing Iliman."

Defensive midfielder Vinicius Souza joined from Lommel for around £7m, centre-back Auston Trusty for around £5m.

Benie Traore (£4m) and £2.3m Anis Slimane were the club's only other paid-for permanent transfers in a summer which saw them win promotion to a division where even the bottom club receives around £100m in television and prize money.