Sheffield Utd swoop to sign defender after contract with Russian club suspended

Sheffield United have become the first English side to sign a player as a result of his contract with a Russian club being temporarily suspended.

The Championship side have announced the signing of Filip Uremovic. The defender, who has won six senior caps for Croatia, joins the Blades on a deal until the end of the current season. Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which is entering its second month, has impacted Russia-based players and that has allowed United to sign Uremovic without paying a fee, and therefore outside the conventional transfer windows.

FIFPro, the world players union, pushed for FIFA to make sure Russian clubs would allow the release of non-Russian players and it is thought they are lobbying FIFA officials in Zurich to allow overseas players registered with Russian teams to effectively declare themselves as free agents.

Uremovic, aged 25, has played 21 games this term for Kazan in both the Russian League and Europa Conference League. "Filip is someone our recruitment team know all about," United boss Paul Heckingbottom told the club's website.

"They've watched him since he played for Croatia Under-21s, but financially he's always been out of the club's reach. Unfortunately, because of the terrible situation between Ukraine and Russia, players have had contracts suspended and after someone contacted me about him, we spoke and thankfully he sees this as a great place to come and play in the short-term."

United are without a host of defensive options due to injuries, which has led to Uremovic being drafted in. Speaking after last weekend's 2-0 win over local rivals and his former employers Barnsley, Heckingbottom saluted his squad's mentality. "It's been a slog for a long period of time and there have been things niggling at me like the big injury list we've had," Heckingbottom said.

"So I think it's only just that we sign off with a win before the international break. Twelve thirty kick-offs can be strange, stadiums can be flat - we also looked like a team who played on Wednesday night and we needed to inject an aggressive mentality into it and just do everything quicker. Barnsley tried to stay with us but a good, quick free-kick, I'm delighted Sander (Berge) got his goal, and we didn't really look back then."

Prior to Uremovic's arrival being announced, Heckingbottom had been taking a look at former Liverpool and Derby defender Andre Wisdom. The 28-year-old has been without a club since leaving the stricken Rams last summer. United had a look at him in training but the Blades' boss decided to pass up on the opportunity to sign him.

He added: "We had Andre in training and we are serious about bringing someone in for that cover, you can see how light we are. Andre's not at the level yet for us to bring him in and use him, so we'll be looking at other options, if they are there. If not, we will work hard with the players and these two weeks will help us get a couple back."

United return to action after the international break with a trip to Stoke on April 2.