Sander Berge linked with bargain Sheffield United transfer exit after Newcastle United, Liverpool interest

Sander Berge is understood to be settled and content at Sheffield United ahead of the new Premier League season, after reports online suggested that the Blades are ready to sacrifice him for a cut-price £10m fee ahead of his contract expiring next summer.

The Norwegian international was United’s record signing when he arrived in a £22m deal from Genk in 2020 and is scheduled to become a free agent at the end of this coming season. Owner Prince Abdullah signalled his intention to keep the Blades’ squad together this summer, with star man Iliman Ndiaye also poised to walk away for nothing in a year’s time, with boss Paul Heckingbottom also letting it be known that would be his wish too.

But Teamtalk report today that Berge is available for just £10m - less than half the fee United paid Genk for his services - as they bid to avoid him leaving for nothing next summer. The obvious difficulty for Heckingbottom in that scenario would be finding a replacement of comparable quality for the same price, before wages and various other issues are taken into account.

Berge has been linked with Liverpool for a long time but Champions League-bound Newcastle United were also mentioned in the conversation back in January, during the latest round of speculation about the Norwegian’s future. Coaching staff have been impressed by Berge’s focus during the never-ending soap opera of rumours that circle his future each transfer window but the player was understood to be happy to spend the season in the Premier League with the Blades, before assessing his next destination next summer - when he would arguably be more desirable as a free agent.

Midfield is already a priority position for Heckingbottom this summer - with Berge and Ollie Norwood the only recognised middle men in his squad as things stand, as contract talks go on with John Fleck and Ben Osborn - and the manager has stressed to the Bramall Lane hierarchy the importance of keeping both Berge and Ndiaye in the building as the Blades prepare for their return to the Premier League.

But, by Heckingbottom’s own admission, the pair’s contract status - and the prospect of, by a conservative estimate, at least £50m worth of talent walking away for nothing next summer - makes the situation “a a tough one ... it’s a difficult one.”

“Prince Abdullah has come out and said he wants to keep the players and not sell, and give ourselves the best possible chance as a squad,” the Blades boss said recently.

“Everyone knows what I think of the lads, they’re fantastic, and we want to be keeping ... I wanted to keep all the group, and certainly those two players, and add to what we’ve got. The more we lose the more difficult it is, the more you lose out of your starting XI and talent of that ilk the more difficult it is. We get that, so we want to keep them.”