Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom has insisted it's still business as usual at Bramall Lane despite takeover rumours continuing to swirl at the club, speaking to The Star.

Last month, it was revealed that US businessman Henry Maruiss had an offer in the region of £115m accepted to purchase a majority stake in the South Yorkshire outfit with the EFL reported to have been reviewing this bid.

A potential change in ownership could potentially be a game-changer for boss Paul Heckingbottom with their Yorkshire rivals Hull City being purchased by Acun Ilicali in January, who decided to replace then-manager Grant McCann.

It's currently unclear whether Heckingbottom would suffer the same fate, though it would probably create big changes at Bramall Lane regardless with potential alterations to the transfer budget and new personnel at the club if this takeover materialises.

Uncertainty is the last thing that the Blades need at this stage with the club currently unsure on which division it will be competing in next season - and this uncertainty could continue until the latter stages of this month if they reach the play-off final.

Heckingbottom, who has seen officials at the club already engage in negotiations with potential singings in the last couple of weeks, has taken a calm approach to current off-field matters though.

He said: "Regarding the takeover, in football you get used to ignoring stuff like that.

"We know, with everything that’s happening, that we have six or seven positions which might need filling. But we also want to know what we will be filling them with.

"The Prince is still the owner. Yusuf (Giansiracusa) is still the chairman. So that’s the basis I’m working on."

The Verdict:

There are no guarantees that this deal will go through, so Heckingbottom is probably to carry on as usual as he looks to make preparations for next season, something that's important despite not knowing which division they will be in next season.

Any official behind the scenes worth their salt would have created two separate plans for life in the top flight and the second tier with many of their rivals in their current division already starting to plan ahead for the 2022/23 campaign.

They risk falling behind those teams if their preparations aren't good enough, so to combat that, those separate plans need to be in place and ready to execute when their season ends, whether it's early this month or slightly later on.

There will be players that Heckingbottom will want to sign regardless of which league they are in and similar applies to the contract situation as well his existing players, so some business can probably be conducted now ahead of a busy summer period.

The free-agent market could be particularly valuable to United if they remain in the second tier, so it will interesting to see if they can make the most of that with several high-quality players set to be available for nothing at the start of July.