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<\/p>\nMark McGuinness left for Luton Town two years ago but after suffering relegation and a disappointing year in Sheffield, his future looks uncertain<\/p>\n
08:30, 25 May 2026Updated 08:31, 25 May 2026<\/p>\n
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Mark McGuinness of Sheffield United(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Former Cardiff City defender Mark McGuinness is reportedly facing an uncertain future at Sheffield United just one year after his move to Bramall Lane.<\/p>\n
According to a report from The Sheffield Star<\/a>, the centre-back could become one of the next casualties of Chris Wilder\u2019s summer rebuild following a difficult debut campaign with the Blades.<\/p>\n McGuinness joined Sheffield United from Luton Town last summer in a deal believed to be worth between \u00a34m and \u00a35m. Join the Cardiff City breaking news and top stories WhatsApp community<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n The defender had previously left Cardiff<\/a> for Luton in 2024 in a deal we understood could eventually rise to \u00a310m with add-ons, although those clauses were not ultimately triggered in full.<\/p>\n McGuinness struggled to nail down a consistent starting role during Sheffield United\u2019s chaotic season, which ended with a disappointing 13th-place Championship finish.<\/p>\n The Sheffield Star reports there is uncertainty over whether the 25-year-old will form a central part of Wilder\u2019s plans moving forward, with the manager eager to reshape his squad as the club attempt to launch another promotion push.<\/p>\n It is reported that Sheffield United would not stand in McGuinness\u2019 way should suitable interest arrive this summer, although the club are not expected to sanction a cut-price exit.<\/p>\n Wilder has already overseen a significant clear-out at Bramall Lane, with 10 players departing so far and more exits anticipated as part of the overhaul.<\/p>\n Despite his struggles in Yorkshire, McGuinness remains highly regarded elsewhere and was this month included in a shadow Republic of Ireland squad.<\/p>\n The former Cardiff defender featured in the 5-0 friendly win over Grenada for the Irish. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n McGuinness came through the ranks at Arsenal before becoming a key player at Cardiff, where his performances quickly established him as one of the Championship\u2019s most highly-rated defenders.<\/p>\n He made more than 100 appearances for the Bluebirds before earning his move to Luton, who had just been relegated from the Premier League<\/a>.<\/p>\n He did, however, suffer relegation to League One with them, going down alongside Cardiff in a disastrous season for both clubs, before moving to Sheffield.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n *Sign up to our daily Bluebirds newsletter here<\/a> and our WhatsApp channel here<\/a>. Cardiff City correspondent Glen Williams<\/strong> is also on social media. He can be found on his X account here<\/a>, on Instagram<\/a>, on TikTok<\/a> and on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark McGuinness left for Luton Town two years ago but after suffering relegation and a disappointing year in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":983447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,14591,393,4884,136699,1620,16,15],"class_list":["post-983446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sheffield","tag-britain","tag-cardiff-city-fc","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-mark-mcguinness","tag-sheffield","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116634197033614848","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=983446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/983447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=983446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=983446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=983446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}