Sheffield United will be hoping to making the perfect start to life under the guidance of manager Slavisa Jokanovic next month when they face Birmingham City on the opening weekend of the 2021/22 Championship season.
With the Serbian looking to bolster his squad in the coming weeks, it will be intriguing to see who lines up for the Blades in the particular fixture.
One of the areas that Jokanovic is seemingly determined to strengthen is the centre-back position.
Having decided to release Phil Jagielka following their relegation from the Premier League, United are relatively short of options in the heart of their defence.
Meanwhile, Kean Bryan officially became a free-agent earlier this month and has yet to reveal whether he is willing to sign the contract that was offered to him by the Blades.
A recent report from The Sun journalist Alan Nixon suggested that Jokanovic was looking to resolve this particular issue by swooping for Matt Clarke.
However, the Brighton & Hove Albion defender is now set to seal a temporary switch to the Blades' Championship rivals West Bromwich Albion.
Jokanovic may need to turn his attention to securing the services of Dion Sanderson who was initially linked with a move to Bramall Lane in May.
In a fresh update concerning the Wolverhampton Wanderers defender's future, it has now been revealed that the Blades are now set to step up their transfer pursuit.
According to Football Insider, United are readying a formal move this week as they look to beat Newcastle United and Sunderland to the 20-year-old's signature.
Both of the aforementioned sides have had bids rejected by Wolves who are unwilling to part ways with Sanderson until they receive an offer believed to be in the region of £2m.
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This could turn out to be somewhat of a coup by the Blades if they are able to convince Sanderson to join the club this summer.
An unquestionably talented player, the defender made 28 appearances for the Black Cats last season during a loan spell at the Stadium of Light.
As well as averaging a respectable WhoScored match rating of 6.72 in League One, Sanderson won Sunderland's Supporters Young Player of the Year award.
Having illustrated that he is more than capable of competing in the third-tier, the defender may now be ready to make the step up to the Championship and thus United ought to do everything they can to seal a deal.
A move to Bramall Lane could be exactly what Sanderson needs at this stage of his career as he has yet to feature in the Premier League for Wolves and thus may be forced to watch on from the sidelines next season if he stays at Molineux.
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