Sheffield United stepped up their preparations for the 2021/22 Championship campaign yesterday by taking on Doncaster Rovers in their latest pre-season friendly.
A brace from Lys Mousset as well as strikes from Luke Freeman and Oliver Burke sealed a confidence-boosting 4-0 victory at the Keepmoat Stadium for the Blades.
Set to kick-off their return to the second-tier on August 7th, it will be intriguing to see whether the Blades are able to draft in any fresh faces for their clash with Birmingham City.
Having recently been handed over the reins at Bramall Lane, United boss Slavis Jokanovic will be determined to guide his side to a positive start to the new term.
However, the scale of the Blades' ambition may depend on whether the Serbian is able to nail his transfer recruitment in the coming weeks.
Yet to sign a player, Jokanovic was recently linked with a possible swoop for Harvey Elliot.
A report from the latest print edition of The Sun on Sunday (25/07, page 62) suggested that United were interested in signing the 18-year-old on a temporary basis from Liverpool.
Elliott recently signed a new long-term contract with the Reds after producing a host of impressive displays during his loan spell at Blackburn Rovers last season.
As well as netting seven goals in 41 league appearances for Tony Mowbray's side, the winger managed to chip in with 11 assists as he set the Championship alight with his abundance of creativity.
In a fresh update concerning Elliott's future, it has now been revealed that the Blades are likely to miss out on a move.
According to The Athletic, Liverpool are set to reject any approaches that they receive for Elliott this summer.
It is understood that Reds manager Jurgen Klopp is looking to integrate the winger into his plans for the first-team next season.
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If this report turns out to be true, this is unquestionably a setback for the Blades as they would have been hoping to seal a deal for a player who has illustrated that he is more than capable of thriving at this level.
As well as recording a respectable average WhoScored match rating of 6.73 in the Championship last season, the teenager ranked in the top-five at Ewood Park for successful dribbles per game (0.9) and key passes per game (1.7).
With Liverpool seemingly keen to keep Elliott at Anfield for the upcoming campaign, Jokanovic will now need to switch his focus to other targets.
Providing that the Blades boss is able to draft in some classy operators between now and the end of the transfer window, there is no reason why he cannot go on to achieve a relative amount of success in the second-tier later this year.
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