Sheffield United chief Stephen Bettis admits they almost signing James McAtee.

McAtee has joined the Blades on-loan from Manchester City.

"We tried, tried, tried," Bettis said of the McAtee chase. “The transfer window closed on Friday and at Thursday lunchtime, he was at Leicester. Him and his agent were in a car, ringing me and saying: 'Book us into a hotel, Steve, because we are telling them he is coming to you and playing Premier League football. James wants to come to you.'

“When I came to the ground for the Everton match I was stopped about four times by fans asking: 'Why didn't you sign him before 12 noon?' I was up until 1am sending Man City everything. It wasn't done until 1.30pm. A lot was out of our hands.

"We had done everything to get him in a couple of weeks before and did everything to get him signed for 12. It was so frustrating.

“We were in constant communication with James and his agent and Man City and at times we didn't know if it was going to happen. We didn't know if City were going to let him out, the manager at times didn't want to let him out and we had to wait and be patient. If we lose out on one or two games because of that the manager was willing to take that risk to have him for the rest of the season."