Sheffield United are closing in on a deal to sign Crystal Palace centre-back Rob Holding. The ex-Arsenal defender has been frozen out of the Palace first team and is now set to head to Bramall Lane until the end of the season.

The Blades made a final bid for the Irish defender earlier today but QPR are standing firm over a player who could walk away for nothing in a few months, with United forced to consider alternative options. One was Millwall’s Japhet Tanganga but the Londoners were demanding huge money for the former Tottenham man which priced the Blades out.

Sheffield United were battling to sign a "first-class" international player on deadline day, but ultimately missed out.