Four ideal Iliman Ndiaye replacements Sheffield United should consider - including Iranian goal-machine

That newly-promoted Sheffield United have so far declined to splash much cash in pursuit of a Premier League-level squad is no great surprise to anyone who’s been following their fortunes over the last couple of seasons. Reports from last season suggested that the club didn’t even have enough money to water the pitch, such were the increasingly dire financial circumstances. Now the Blades have Premier League money, and it’s going straight into those rather slim-looking bank accounts. If only they were owned by a Saudi prince, eh?

In any case, the result of this enforced parsimony is that Sheffield United have signed just three players so far, all of them youngsters, for a combined total fee of less than £7m. All of which was, perhaps, not such a bad thing – their Championships squad performed admirably last season and both their promotion and their impressive FA Cup run were well-deserved. But now one of their biggest names has left, and that leaves manager Paul Heckingbottom with a headache.

Iliman Ndiaye scored 14 goals last season and registered 11 assists – and has now taken his services over the Channel to Marseille. He takes much of the Blades’ creative spark and cutting edge with him. The good news is that Heckingbottom has confirmed that he will have the proceeds from the sale – believed to be at least £15m – to spend. The bad news is that he has just over a week before his side start the new Premier League season. That isn’t much time to replace your club’s most crucial attacking outlet.

So who will Heckingbottom bring in to fill the gaping void left by Ndiaye’s departure? Let’s take a look at a few plausible options, from returning loan stars to high-class veterans, and see where that money could be spent.

Tommy Doyle

The scorer of four goals for the Blades while on loan from Manchester City last season – including their goal of the season, his last-gasp piledriver in the FA Cup quarter-final against Blackburn Rovers – Doyle was not on Ndiaye’s level last year but is certainly trending in the correct direction, and could well be back on loan if Heckingbottom has his way.

Doyle improved consistently over the course of the 2022/23 campaign and became a more and more important part of Sheffield United’s attacking set-up as the season wore on, so bringing him back would go a very long way to restoring the spark that looks worrying absent from their squad as it stands.

Nobody expects Doyle to be available on a permanent transfer as it stands, and the wait is mainly to see which of his young charges Pep Guardiola decides to send out for further experience, and which he wants to keep around the first team. The jury seems to be out on Doyle as it stands. He wouldn’t cover the entirety of the hole left by Ndiaye, but he would help out quite considerably.

Talles Magno

A 21-year-old Brazilian who plays for New York City – the MLS team owned by the City Group – and who was linked as a teenager with a move to Liverpool. He’s a hard-working and highly dynamic player who, much like Ndiaye, is just as comfortable taking the ball past players himself as he is playing quick interchanges through the defence.

He registered an impressive 15 goal contributions in the 2022 season but has endured a bit of a dip this year, picking up just three goals and one assist so far as his side have struggled – NYCFC are 13^th in the 15-team Eastern Conference. It’s certainly reasonable to question whether he’s quite ready to play at the sharp end of the Premier League, but his talent is proven.

Magno is also keen to play in the Premier League one day, having suggested his lofty ambition is to play for Manchester City one day, but Sheffield would at least be a pretty good stepping stone. Likely to cost about the same as Ndiaye departed for, the former Vasco academy product would at least be a highly intriguing purchase with a lofty ceiling – but probably a rather low floor, as well.

Jack Clarke

22 years old, incredibly versatile and coming off the back of a hugely impressive breakout season in the second tier, Clarke hit nine goals and collected 11 assists for Sunderland last season, and is as such the subject of a multi-directional Premier League bidding war with at least four teams reportedly in the hunt for his signature.

Sheffield United don’t seem to be among their number so far, but with the Ndiaye money burning a hole in the collective pockets they may well dip their toes into the water. Clarke is one of the few players in the Championship who offered similar levels of production to the Frenchman last season, and one of the few who can serve as both goalscorer and provider.

Initial reports put the price tag as somewhere around £12m but with so many clubs circling that may well increase before he finally departs the Stadium of Light – but he’s still likely to be within Sheffield United’s budgetary range.

Mehdi Taremi

This one might be a bit ambitious, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a word with the Iranian striker’s agent, as the 31-year-old is clearly agitating for a move away from Porto. Galatasaray have been mentioned, and Manchester United have even been hinted at as a possible destination, albeit likely as a back-up option.

Since arriving in Portugal from Persepolis back in 2019, the striker’s numbers have been utterly exceptional. He’s bagged 42 league goals in the last two seasons along with a whopping 19 assists, and is just as good at teeing up chances for his colleagues as he is at bagging them for himself. Few forwards in Europe have such strong statistics across the board for finishing, passing, dribbling and even defending. Frankly, it’s astonishing that none of Europe’s big boys have taken a chance on him in the past.

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So could Sheffield United really muscle in on the bidding war? Is it such a major leap to imagine the Blades being able to present a case over a side in the Turkish Super Lig? Perhaps. But money is relatively unlikely to be a major issue unless the wages become a problem. And maybe Taremi will simply sneer at the idea of turning out at Bramall Lane. All we can suggest is – we’d certainly make the call if we were in charge.