Wilder on O’Hare’s departure and lack of Sheffield United deadline day signings

Chris Wilder admits Sheffield United have been left with a hole to fill after Callum O’Hare’s departure to Wrexham, but insists he was never prepared to bring in a replacement simply for the sake of it.

O’Hare has left the Blades for Wrexham, with Wilder admitting he was frustrated to lose a player who had been popular at the club.

“He was a popular player for everyone,” Wilder said after United’s 3-2 win over Bolton.

“I didn’t want to lose him, but the club accepted a bid and you’ve got to say Callum accepted the deal as well.

“So, I know there’ll be certain opinions on the club: we bought him in for a free and sold him for really good money.

“The frustration was obvious, that we haven’t got a lot of time to work in, but I was never going to sign anybody blind.

“I wanted to see them, I wanted to make sure that they had the attributes of a Sheffield United player, which you saw in abundance tonight.”

The loan signing of Coventry City defender Liam Kitching was the only arrival at United on the final day of the transfer window.

But Wilder urged supporters to focus on the squad now at his disposal, insisting O’Hare’s departure should not overshadow the players who remain at Bramall Lane.

“I think it would be good to talk about the players that we’ve got now,” he added. “Put the emotions to one side.

“Callum was fabulous for me, he moves on and we move on. And now it’s up to me to get the best out of this group of players.

“I’m not going to bring players in for the sake of it. No disrespect, we’ve done that and we’re paying a little bit of a price for that in terms of players on the books that we’re having to pay for weekly.

“So it’s no good me just bringing a player in just for the sake of it, and I told Steve [Bettis, chief executive] that.

“I don’t want to do that. I want to be part of the process, part of the overall process, that we look at players, we have a good deep dive on them and we bring players in that are going to make us better and not just bring a number in.”