Sheffield United Transfers: Blades win race to sign 26-goal hotshot as transfer approach continues

Sheffield United have snapped up an exciting young striker, after a season which saw him score 26 goals and add 14 assists for his former club.

Starlet Marshall Francis has put pen to paper on a professional deal at Bramall Lane after a successful trial spell with the Blades. He joins from the JMA performance programme, who are affiliated with Reading and combine football with education for 16-19 year olds.

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Francis’s remarkable goals tally put him on the radar of a number of clubs, with United winning the race for his signature after taking a look at his abilities first-hand on trial. Goals for the U18s against Coventry City and Watford impressed United academy staff further and he joins the latest cohort of young stars to pen deals at United’s academy.

A JMA statement read: “We are so proud of you, Marsh ... always the hardest working player, never say die attitude and most importantly listening and putting trust in your coaches. Remember the name.”

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The deal is likely to have been rubberstamped by Derek Geary, with boss Paul Heckingbottom revealing earlier this year that he was happy to trust United’s academy chief’s judgement when it came to the signing of former Manchester United man Zach Giggs.

Giggs, the son of Old Trafford legend Ryan, signed for the Blades earlier this month as United look to repopulate their academy ranks following the high-profile departures of Kylan Midwood and Will Lankshear to Manchester City and Spurs respectively.

“It’s important for me to be involved in i[academy recruitment],” Heckingbottom said back in April, “but I want them to back their decision as well. It wouldn’t be independent, but if someone has been working with a player for four weeks and wants to put their name to them, then brilliant. I’ll back them.”

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United will be hoping their new influx of academy players - 14 of whom were pictured on the Bramall Lane pitch recently having signed on - can emulate the rise of Iliman Ndiaye, who was signed from non-league Boreham Wood but went on to establish himself as one of the best players outside of the Premier League in the last couple of seasons.

United’s hierarchy have made no secret of their desire to make United a self-sustainable club and developing young players - either to save money by avoiding the need to sign others, or making it by selling them on - is a key part of that model.

“It’s about making money, and you can do that two ways,” Heckingbottom said earlier this season. “Through success on the pitch and player trading - whether that’s buying cheap and selling more expensive - or developing your own players and moving them on.

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“That won’t change. You can get sponsorship deals and sell season tickets, but you are talking hundreds of thousands of pounds, a million or so. Get young players in your first team and you are talking tens of millions. That’s the business we are in.

“I think you should always be a development club because that’s the way you make money. That’s how you make a profit and keep the board happy, keep shareholders happy. It keeps everyone happy.

“If you want to reinvest and build your squad, that’s how you do it. It’s not going to be a shirt sponsor that builds a squad. It’s going to be player trading, and success on the pitch.”

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