“I’d love to stay. I’ve really enjoyed it. The lads have been great. The fans have been great.” said Sheffield United legend Billy Sharp, just over two weeks before LA Galaxy announced that he would not be retained following the conclusion of the 2023 MLS season.

The 37-year-old quickly found his feet stateside, scoring six goals in his 12 appearances for Galaxy, but was released alongside household names Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez and Douglas Costa.

Sheffield-born Sharp made 359 appearances for the Blades across three spells, scoring 129 goals, but was released at the end of the club’s promotion-winning 2022/23 Championship campaign.

A return to his hometown seems to be unlikely, although United boss Paul Heckingbottom confirmed that he had been in conversation with Sharp during his pre-match press conference yesterday. The club travel to Burnley on Saturday for an all-important relegation scrap.

He said: “I’m in contact with Bill a bit. He’s still looking for a football club… if he’s going to play over here he wants to keep fit and tick over.

“I have spoken to him about it, yeah.”

Despite infamously clashing with Wrexham last season, in which the forward called the Welsh club “disrespectful” and added “I think the referee was helping them as well”, the club have recently emerged as a possible destination for Sharp.

In a recent interview on William Hill’s ‘No Tippy Tappy Football’ podcast, the 37-year-old said: “I don’t hold grudges. If that were one of my better options, why not.”

The forward also revealed that he was close to joining Celtic during the Covid-19 pandemic, in which he was playing for United in the Premier League, but he turned it down out of loyalty for his boyhood club.

“I should have probably gone. But I think my heart took over again with Sheffield United, the loyalty to Sheffield United.” 

Sharp is currently one goal away from hitting 250 in the English leagues, and remains the all-time top scorer in the second tier.