Sheffield United manager Kevin Blackwell has decided against signing defender John Halls.

The former Arsenal trainee, who is out of contract at Reading this summer, had a loan spell with United toward the end of last season.

He impressed but Blades boss Blackwell insists he has enough cover in defence.

He said: "I have made the decision because I don't think we will be short of cover in that area.

"We have Derek Geary, Kyle Naughton, and one or two other Academy products in the pipeline.

"If you have an Academy you would hope to get one or two through to the first team, and Kyle did so well in his loan spell over the border last term, I would really like to take a look at him."