Sheffield United boss addresses "perfect" Gus Hamer's transfer future after derisory Leeds United bid

Chris Wilder hailed the attitude of Sheffield United key man Gus Hamer after a derisory bid was rejected from their Yorkshire rivals Leeds United. The former Coventry City man was the subject of a £13m offer from the Elland Road side recently, with senior figures at Bramall Lane privately suspecting that the aim was to unsettle the Dutchman.

Hamer was in the United squad for their League Cup defeat away at Barnsley last night, and showed exactly why the Blades are so keen to keep him in a bright cameo off the bench. He almost scored with his first serious involvement, forcing Reds goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina into a smart save, and saw Slonina almost spill a shot over the line later on.

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The 27-year-old did not look like a player whose head was elsewhere in a typically committed performance at Oakwell, and Wilder said: “He showed where his head is tonight. When people talk about head-turned and speculation, he’s handled it fantastically well. I thought he was quiet on Saturday 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 [Leeds] have brought in this summer [around £140m] and what they’ve got. Top dollar for their players. I’ll leave it there with everybody but I thought he showed the urgency that we needed. And we didn’t show that enough.

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“There was too much backward and sideways and we didn’t do enough until Gus came on. All of a sudden it was game on. I think he had three shots in the space of 15 or 20 minutes, and crosses. When he came on it got us going but we need to play with a lot more urgency and the players need to recognise that.”

Wilder, who saw midfielder Anis Slimane pull out of the fixture hours before kick-off as a move to Norwich City edges closer, recently hailed youngster Oliver Arblaster’s attitude amid speculation about his own Bramall Lane future ahead of Friday’s 11pm deadline, and described Hamer’s own mindset as “perfect.”

“The way he’s handled it is perfect,” Wilder added. “I talked about Blaster and the speculation, good players handle speculation and just get on with being good footballers. It didn’t happen for him on Saturday but we talked about it and he came roaring back tonight. That’s what players with speculation around them should play like. Not: 'I’ll cruise through this or I might get injured or I might not play.' Just get on with it and produce a performance.”