Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder did not mention Socceroos captain Harry Souttar by name but confirmed the Championship club have put a revised offer in for a player, when asked for an update on transfer links with the Australian. 

Speaking after the club’s 3-0 win over Mansfield Town in the EFL Club, manager Chris Wilder didn’t mention Souttar, but answered: “We put a bid in for a player. So, that’s positive.

“And I think we’ve got to understand, it’s a different landscape for the football club now. It’s the first year without parachute payments as well. So, that makes a big difference and we have to cut our cloth accordingly, and we have to be smart. It’s a difficult one because we’ve missed out on some decent free transfers.

“So, that’s disappointing. But we have to move on and that’s part and parcel of the job. We have to accept that and try and get the best out of what we can do.”

Leicester City might have handed Harry Souttar the armband in their EFL Cup win over Northampton Town on the weekend, but reports continue to suggest Sheffield United want to sign the Socceroos’ World Cup captain. 

According to local newspaper The Star, the Championship outfit put a “beefed-up” bid in over the weekend after an initial rejection, although it is reportedly short of a $AUD 15 million number (£8m) that had been reported over the weekend. It is being reported that the Foxes’ starting point is £10m. 

With the Blades about to sell Gus Hamer to Coventry City, they have funds to spend, although can’t spend it all given they’ve now lost use of their relegation parachute payments.

How confident was Wilder that that bid would be successful, he said: “You never know. We have backups all the time. But we have to have good players that come in. We’ve got good players at the football club and I don’t just want to go safe on a player that might be OK.

“We want two players that hopefully can start in the team to take us to the position we are in. It’s an extremely competitive league. Teams all over the place, as you’ve seen, what’s happening.

“Parachute payments and clubs selling players for big money. There’s a club that’s having a go and rightly so, but they brought in big money for a couple of players. So, that’s the way it is. I’m happy with the group, but I’m always trying to improve it. I think we’re two or three players off being really, really competitive.

“I think we will be competitive in what I’ve seen so far this season. But to take that next step, then hopefully we can do the business that we do. But we have to be patient with it.”

Harry Souttar, Patrick Beach and Alessandro Circati will be key again in defence. Photo: Aleksandar Jason

Prior to the weekend, Foxes boss Russel Martin reiterated how much he wants to keep the Australian World Cup star.

“I think any player in any club in the world is for sale at any point, if it’s for the right money,” Martin said. “I can’t come out here and say: ‘Harry is definitely not for sale’.

“If it was my choice, he wouldn’t be, even if someone came in with an astronomical amount of money, but I’m not the money man. So for me, he’ll be here. He’s happy to be here. He’s trained fantastically well.

“He’s everything I thought he would be in terms of a professional, honest, hard-working, vocal, puts his body on the line, even in training – he’s been amazing.

“I think it would take something very big for him to leave here, and if it was right for the club and for him, then it means that someone’s paid an awful lot of money to get the man that they want. Right now, it’s so far away from that, it’s not even a discussion.

“That’s why everyone can be quite calm about it, including Harry. He’s not come to me once and said he wants to leave. I think he’s very happy and he understands that playing this way can be really good for him. So as long as he’s happy, I’m happy and everyone’s happy, we’re good.”

On why he made him captain, he explained: “He captains his country, he’s played at the World Cup.

“He’s been brilliant in pre-season since he’s been back, so he’ll captain the team tomorrow and then we’ll assess everything during the rest of the transfer window. I did the same at Southampton; James Ward-Prowse captained the team in the first game and then didn’t play for us again.

“So I think we have to be open and flexible with it, but tomorrow, Harry will be captain. I think he deserves to be. He’s a real leader, and then we’ll assess it as and when it goes.”