Ben Brereton Diaz’s Sheffield United return has been questioned amid reports that one Championship promotion rival holds a key advantage in negotiations.
United have been interested in signing Brereton Diaz all month, with manager Chris Wilder prioritising the arrival of attacking reinforcements. The Chilean international bagged six goals in 14 Premier League games on loan in South Yorkshire last season and parent club Southampton have made him available just months after agreeing a £7 million fee with Villarreal.
Bramall Lane chiefs had been hopeful of sealing a move for Brereton Diaz this week but as of Sunday, that is now highly unlikely, and there have now been fresh suggestions a move might not happen altogether. Sky Sports claim that while the 25-year-old is ‘keen’ on joining United this month, Sunderland and another former club, Blackburn Rovers, are also interested.
Crucially, Southampton are said to want an obligation to buy inserted into any loan deal, which will be triggered if any of the aforementioned trio are promoted back to the Premier League. But the report adds that Sunderland are the only team so far to ‘indicate’ they would be open to such an agreement, potentially placing them ahead of United in the race.
Wilder’s ‘ridiculous’ hint
The delay in progressing a deal for Brereton Diaz could well open the door for other suitors, potentially ones that are more willing to meet Southampton’s demands. United will quite rightly fight their corner in negotiations for any player and while no specific names were mentioned, Wilder did recently hint at one deal proving difficult.
“We’ve been talking the last 48 hours continually, working and trying to progress deals through,” he told The Star following Thursday’s FA Cup defeat against Cardiff City. “I’ve talked about selling clubs or players who are loaned out—they want the best deal and they wait for better offers coming in as well. It really is that type of situation, but we’ve moved stuff forward so I’m sure hopefully we’ll see some progress in the next four or five days leading up to the Norwich game.
“If I told you about one of the deals, you’d find that ridiculous, but you have to wait. It’s a bit of a game of poker at times. But we’ve got players who want to come here, which is the biggest thing. And we’ve got owners and a chief executive who are working tirelessly to try and bring players in, which is good enough for me.”
While interest from Sunderland and Blackburn is far from ideal, United will still hope to land Brereton Diaz, who for his part remains keen on reuniting with Wilder at Bramall Lane. The forward enjoyed a brief but excellent spell in South Yorkshire and will be desperate to rediscover that form, having failed to score in 13 Southampton appearances this season.
Club chiefs are juggling plates during this busy period and talks are also believed to be advancing over the loan signing of Leicester City’s Hamza Choudhury. Wilder has made the signing of midfield steel a priority following Oliver Arblaster’s season-ending injury during the victory over Sheffield Wednesday earlier this season.
The Blades will also need to recruit defensively, with Harry Souttar joining Arblaster in missing the rest of this season. The towering Australian ruptured his Achilles during last month’s defeat against Burnley and has returned to parent club Leicester City, leaving a huge gap that will need to be filled.
