Exc: Leeds United offer £10m man in Gus Hamer transfer deal as Sheffield United stance made clear

Leeds United’s latest offer for Sheffield United key man Gus Hamer saw them offer forward Joel Piroe in a cash-plus-player deal, The Star understands. The Blades’ Yorkshire rivals made an initial £13m bid for the Blades’ key man recently, as we revealed, which was immediately turned down.

There was a strong suspicion amongst senior figures at Bramall Lane that the low-ball bid was designed to unsettle Hamer and see him look to force a move, but Blades chief Chris Wilder enthused about Hamer’s attitude in Tuesday’s League Cup defeat at Barnsley. United’s coaching staff are not interested in a deal involving Piroe, as he would not fit in with their current needs ahead of tomorrow night’s transfer deadline, and are determined to hold on to him when the window shuts.

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Leeds have brought in well over £100m this summer from the sales of some of their own key figures, including Archie Gray (£30m to Tottenham Hotspur), Crysencio Summerville (£25m to West Ham), Luis Sinisterra (£20m to Bournemouth) and Georginio Rutter (£40m to Brighton and Hove Albion). They signed Jayden Bogle from Bramall Lane earlier in the window and were also keen on bringing in Jesurun Rak-Sakyi from Crystal Palace, before the lively winger elected to join United instead.

The Blades are understood to value Hamer much higher than Leeds’ opening offer, having paid around £12m to sign him a year ago when he entered the final 12 months of his Coventry City deal. He has three years left on his Blades deal, further strengthening their hand, and has since been named United’s player of the season in the Premier League and started the Championship campaign with two goals and an assist in United’s three league games so far.

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"When people talk about head-turned and speculation, he’s handled it fantastically well,” Wilder said of Hamer earlier this week. “I thought he was quiet on Saturday [at Norwich] but we had a chat on Monday about it, that we need him because he’s a huge player for us.

“We know the number and the numbers that the club who made the offer have brought in this summer and what they’ve got. Top dollar for their players. I’ll leave it there with everybody.”