Sheffield United: A Bramall Lane delegation at the World Cup, Saudi signings and empty gestures

Iliman Ndiaye, ridiculously labelled the ‘Senegalse Star Boy’ despite turning 23 next March, has travelled there with the reigning African champions. Adam Davies, who thankfully hasn’t been granted one of these bloody annoying titles, is in Qatar representing Wales. (If he gets on the pitch and catches the eye, expect him to get one soon though).

But should other members of United’s footballing department be visiting the Middle East? The answer is, of course ‘yes’. Not watching the behemoths of the beautiful game…Brazil, England, Spain, France and Argentina - Saudi Arabia might have something to say about that, mind. Rather some of those not expected to reach the knockout stages. Because, make no mistake about it, there will be bargains to have once this tournament draws to a close.

United clearly won’t give Paul Heckingbottom much to work with in January. If anything at all, unless he is forced to do some wheeling and dealing among a squad which sits second in the table despite being ravaged by injuries. That won’t stop all sorts of names being linked with moves to Bramall Lane ahead of the forthcoming transfer window. Or more mercenary members of this profession jumping on the bandwagon in order to bump-up their ‘web hits’ - the currency by which journalists, despite the fact Watergate barely warranted a mention in the Washington Post when the yarn first began to unfold, are now unfortunately judged.

But you don’t have to be Woodward or Bernstein to figure that, unless there’s an injection of investment from outside sources, money is in pretty short supply at Bramall Lane right now.

Still, the shortage of finance mustn’t be used as an excuse to stop scouring the globe for talent. And some of the best of it, rightly or wrongly, is currently based in Doha.

United have proven themselves capable of unearthing diamonds at bargain prices in the past. Ndiaye is thought to have cost somewhere between £40,000 and £50,000 after being spotted at Boreham Wood. Anel Ahmedhodzic, one of their most influential players so far this term, commanded a fee of £3m despite appearing to be worth at least three times that amount. Crucially, in the latter’s case, Heckingbottom stole a march on the Bosnian’s other suitors because he had previously expressed an interest in acquiring his services. And that proves the importance of striking first. Being out there, on the ground. Even if a deal becomes so protracted it takes months to arrange. First impressions, as Ahmedhodzic admitted, count.

Scrolling through some of the teams involved in the tournament, you suspect some of those within them would be tempted by a move to United. Tunisia, Mexico, Australia and Japan for example. I don’t think it requires too much of a stretch to suggest that, depending upon the Ayatollah’s mood, there might be a few Iranians who aren’t in too much of a hurry to go back to Tehran either.

Hopefully United’s focus isn’t entirely targeted on next month’s return to Championship action. If it is, they could miss out.

•I remember the laughter when it was first suggested that United might be purchasing a player from Saudi Arabia, their owner HRH Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s homeland. If I’m being honest, I probably wasn’t too impressed either. Not because I don’t think there’s quality out there. Rather, that the guy in question didn’t seem to be what United needed at that point in time.

A couple of years on, after Herve Renard’s side opened their WC campaign by beating Argentina, the joke might be on us. Every single member of the Frenchman’s squad is contracted to a club in the Saudi Professional League. Nearly half of them are tied to Al-Hilal, the team Prince Abdullah grew up supporting and once served as president.

Let’s be frank, the biggest footballing investments stemming from the Kingdom are now going to be pumped into Newcastle; owned by its Public Investment Fund. But I don’t expect to see a flood of moves from the reigning Saudi champions, Al-Shabab, Al-Nassr or Damac to St James’ Park over the coming months. So maybe United could use their connections there to discover a few gems.

•Listen, we all know Qatar bought the World Cup. And we all know that there were enough corrupt officials within FIFA at the time to allow them to do it. We also know people are too impressed by money and power than they should be. Which is why, when Sheffield was vying to become part of an English bid for the tournament, I was privately chastised on several occasions for daring to call out Jack Warner before he visited the city. I didn’t listen then and I won’t listen again in the future. Not if I’m being lectured by apologists for the type of behaviour which, if it had been committed by someone claiming benefits, folk would have been demanding the return of capital punishment for.

If officials in Zurich really were bothered about the treatment of migrant workers and people in same sex relationships then they wouldn’t be out there in the first place. If those teams who cracked under pressure to ditch the rainbow armbands were too then they’d have said ‘Up yours Gianni’ and worn them anyway. If all their members had copped a booking and then another for refusing to remove them, that would have been a bloody embarrassing story for both the organisers and the governing body.

If folk believe sport should be used to make political points, then they should be prepared to carry them through. Because, in the grand scheme of things, some of the issues they’re railing against are a damn sight more important than lifting the trophy.