Chris Wilder sounds confident that Sheffield United will win the race for Tom Cannon after his recall from Stoke City.

Stoke fan Ben Brereton-Diaz was in the stands at Bramall Lane yesterday to watch a 2-0 win over Norwich City ahead of an expected move to re-join the Championship table toppers as one of five potential January signings. The 25-year-old forward, who grew up in Meir Park, spent the second half of last season on loan at the club from Villareal before a £7 million summer transfer to Southampton, who are now ready to sanction his exit north.

Cannon, aged 22, is also wanted from Leicester having scored 11 times on loan for Stoke before he was summoned back in the final hour before a deadline to pull that trigger on Tuesday. Stoke would clearly like him back and he was wanted by Sunderland too and there have been other links with Burnley and Cannon’s old club Everton, with various reports about how a bid could look.

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“We’re close,” said Wilder in his post-match press conference. “We’re close on one that’s been floating about today (Brereton-Diaz) and another couple.

“We’re after five new players and I expect to sign them all. We’re close on three, we’re talking to number-one targets, and from a financial and personality point of view, they all want to come and be part of a hopefully successful last 19 games of the season. But as we talked about on Friday, it’s not straightforward.

“I’m delighted by the support I’ve received from Stephen (Bettis, chief executive) and the owners in supporting what we need to do. It’s needed. They’ve got injuries, we’ve got injuries, we’re stretched. We think Vini [Souza] and Jes [Rak-Sakyi] will be back for Tuesday (an away game at Swansea) but I won’t take a gamble on them.”

Wilder hopes to have signings in place before a 12pm registration deadline on Monday so they can feature in mid-week.

Of his current strikeforce, Kieffer Moore needs a hernia operation and is expected to be out for two or three weeks. Tyrese Campbell made a late cameo from the bench yesterday, his first appearance since December 8 after a spell in the treatment room with a hamstring problem.

Sunderland seem to have all but waved the white flag on Cannon while apparent Everton interest in intriguing, although there has been no public talk of any buy-back clause in the deal that took him to Leicester in the summer of 2023.

In that hypothetical scenario, Everton could see Cannon as a financial asset – but players are only allowed by Fifa to be registered for three clubs in a season, so they couldn’t buy him back for a set fee and immediately sell him for more to anyone other than Stoke or Leicester – and all three clubs are currently hamstrung by constraints due to profit and sustainability rules anyway.

Leicester are in the market for a new striker themselves, having gone four home game without a goal as they slide towards relegation from the Premier League. Cannon was not in their squad for a 2-0 defeat to Fulham yesterday.

Fifa rules also mean that a player can only play for two clubs in the same season, which would come into Ruud van Nistelrooy’s thinking – and limit the exit option to only Stoke before deadline day – even if he would like to involve him in the here and now. Stoke hope that they could have more wriggle room in the transfer market in the summer if there are changes to PSR, which is currently being debated by Championship clubs.

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In the short-term, it has left Cannon twiddling his thumbs, liking posts from his old Stoke teammates on social media following their hard-fought draw at West Brom.

Mark Robins on Stoke’s transfer business

Stoke currently have two loan slots free in their match day squad. They are allowed five under EFL rules and Ashley Phillips, Lewis Koumas and Andrew Moran are playing regularly.

There isn’t much wriggle room because of Financial Fair Play but Stoke would obviously love to be able not to rely on temporary signings.

Robins told Radio Stoke at the Hawthorns: “I hope (there is scope to do something) and it’s not through the want of trying. Tom, I’ll await news and see where we go from there but everybody is working around the clock to try to make something happen and, like I say, to make something happen it has to be the right thing and it has to be right for now and maybe even right for the future because it might be something that is a little bit more permanent rather than semi-permanent.”

Robins has been coy about the chances of any Cannon return.

He said on Friday: “He’s not our player. I don’t want to comment any further on that but let’s see how things develop.”

Robins talked about his views on the loan market here.

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Frank Lampard leaving Brandon Thomas-Asante to it

There have been whispers of Blackburn and Stoke interest in Brandon Thomas-Asante, who Robins signed for Coventry from West Brom last summer – but he scored the winner for Coventry against Bristol City yesterday.

Coventry boss Frank Lampard told CoventryLive: "I haven't spoken to him about it. I don't want to talk to him about it! Just go and play, and he did, so it's all good. He's our player. People keep telling me he's had a hard time here. Since I've been here he hasn't played as many minutes, particularly where he wants to play, but when he has in the last three games I have seen lots of stuff I like from him.

"It's better that your players are interested than not, if there's any truth in it. It means that they're playing at a level. I'm used to it. Whether there's truth or rumours, if the player takes it the right way, it's a good thing. Okay, if somebody wants me I'm going to show it every week. If I want to stay at this club, I'm going to show it every week. The rest is all in the future."

Stoke were told by a Championship pundit that Thomas-Asante would be ‘a good foil’ under Robins.

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