Sheffield United ‘discover’ Cameron Archer price tag as Leeds United transfer battle complicated

Sheffield United will have to pay as much as £20m to tempt Aston Villa into doing business over Cameron Archer this summer, according to reports, as a spate of injuries in the midlands threatened to put any deal in jeopardy. The young forward came off the bench for Villa in their 4-0 hammering of Everton yesterday after Philippe Coutinho limped off with a hamstring issue, with fellow forward Emi Buendia expected to miss a significant chunk of the current season after suffering what Villa described as “a significant knee ligament injury.”

United resurrected their long-standing interest in 21-year-old Archer, which dates back at least to the January transfer window, this summer after losing Iliman Ndiaye to Marseille. United wanted to sign Archer in January before budget restrictions prevented the move and the England U21 international instead joined Middlesbrough, where he scored 11 times in 20 league games to fire them into the play-offs.

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Archer is understood to be keen to play Premier League football but Villa are reluctant to let him leave on the cheap, while also insisting on a variety of clauses - including a buy-back arrangement - in any prospective deal to protect their future interests. United officials now must not only ensure that any initial fee provides value for money, and fits within United’s strict financial structure, but that any prospective buy-back amount is set high enough to make the move worthwhile if the Blades’ coaching staff do develop Archer as much as they believe they can.

Having been handed a budget of £20m for permanent signings earlier in the summer, Villa’s Archer price tag would ordinarily have ruled United out of the race but the windfall of cash from the sales of Ndiaye and Sander Berge has increased the spending power at boss Paul Heckingbottom’s disposal. Heckingbottom is keen to add more firepower to his squad, with their lack of strength in depth highlighted once again at Nottingham Forest on Friday when he was forced to call upon youngsters Andre Brooks and Antwoine Hackford off the bench. Forest, in contrast, brought on a £30m pair in Chris Wood and Anthony Elanga and were rewarded when the former headed home the winner in a tight City Ground encounter.

United will hope that the latest Villa injury does not change Unai Emery’s decision to sanction Archer’s departure in this transfer window, with the former Arsenal chief keen to have two players for every position and Villa also competing in Europe this season as well as on three domestic fronts. There are 11 days left of the transfer window and Heckingbottom has resigned himself to the possibility that United’s search for reinforcements could go right to the wire. His side have given everything in their first two games of the Premier League season, coming up narrowly short against Crystal Palace and Forest mainly because of shortcomings at both ends of the pitch in terms of poor defending and a lack of firepower. Now it is time for others higher up at Bramall Lane to deliver the help they so obviously need.