Blades chase Wigan star Kilbane
BRYAN Robson's Bramall Lane revolution continued to gather pace today when it emerged that the Sheffield United manager wants to make Kevin Kilbane his fifth major signing of the most eventful summer in the club's history.
Robson, who is poised to complete a £4m deal for Everton striker James Beattie by the end of the week, is also understood to have approached Wigan Athletic to enquire about the Irish international's availability.
Despite making 31 league appearances for Wigan, including one on the final day of the season when Paul Jewell's side condemned United to relegation, Kilbane is facing an uncertain future at the JJB Stadium following the arrival of Michael Brown and Jason Koumas; two players linked with moves to South Yorkshire in recent months.
But Robson hopes to gain some measure of revenge by tempting the 30-year-old to United with the promise of regular first team football.
Despite insisting that he would only "fine-tune" the squad he inherited from Neil Warnock in May, Robson is pressing ahead with a complete makeover of the options at his disposal after expressing his disappointment at United's lack of creativity during their warm-up programme for the new Championship campaign.
That reaches a climax at this weekend with the visit of Nottingham Forest but while Beattie's arrival has dominated the headlines, it has also provided a smokescreen to mask the former England captain's increasingly frenetic activity in the transfer market.
By his own admission, United's on-going battle with the FA Premier League following the Carlos Tevez Affair hampered the early days of Robson's reign but, having secured the signatures of Billy Sharp, Gary Naysmith and Lee Hendrie, he is now poised to make perhaps his most significant purchases yet after dropping a strong hint that an agreement has been reached with Beattie and his advisors during the immediate aftermath of Tuesday evening's goalless draw at Rotherham.
Although there is still a possibility that Beattie could slip through the net, Robson's claim that only plc chairman Kevin McCabe's business trip to Australia had prevented an announcement being made spoke volumes about his confidence that a breakthrough is imminent.
The match also provided Robson with an opportunity to comment on the areas where United need to improve before August 11th's meeting with Colchester and while probable Aussie recruit David Carney remains an unknown quantity, the interest in Kilbane would appear to be an attempt to solve a problem which coaching staff have identified as one of their top priorities; a perceived lack of pace down the flanks.