'We have committed to neither transfer plan' - Blades' 'muddled' window

Ben Meakin, BladesPod

It’s been a muddled transfer window from Sheffield United, signalling a club seemingly caught between knowing the prudence of preparing for next season and also wanting to at least be competitive for the rest of this one.

The Blades have spent money on a goalkeeper, Ivo Grbic, with all three of our other goalkeepers out of contract in the summer. Hopefully Grbic will be a success, but the fact that our previous number one, Wes Foderingham, has immediately requested a loan move away suggests that signing his replacement was either a snap decision or poorly communicated internally.

Bringing in highly rated youngster Sam Curtis also looks a good move for the future, as does the ongoing contract negotiations with academy products Oliver Arblaster and Dan Jebbison.

Cutting ties with on-loan Luke Thomas made sense and that frees up a precious domestic loan slot. However, four weeks later and we still haven't used it, as another two potentially winnable Premier League games drift by.

The only other incoming so far has been Ben Brereton Diaz, who certainly looks like improving us in the short term. But that's also the problem: he's only here for the short term, with no option to buy at the end of his loan spell.

His signing sticks out like a sore thumb, particularly as he was brought in at the start of the window as United dipped further into their allocation of overseas loans.

I thought it was going to signal the club making a clutch of short-term, low-cost additions to at least save face the rest of the way.

Instead, there is only one more expected arrival, albeit on loan, which leaves me wondering what the point is?

It felt like the options were to either accept the inevitable and spend as little as possible, or rage against the dying of the light and spend a modest amount to get better for the last few months of the season.

In the end, we have committed to neither transfer plan.