Sheffield United: The big dilemma The Blades face over Aaron Ramsdale as Arsenal prepare to step up their chase

THE PROS: There’s no point in pretending otherwise. Thirty-two million, let alone the £40m United would rather Arsenal pay, is a huge amount of money. Even in football, where people have become so blase about its true value they talk about £500,000 as if it’s something they’d find stuffed down the back of their sofa.

And if the Londoners get their way, and the deal they are proposing goes through, Jokanovic’s recruitment budget will enjoy a significant and welcome boost. It would also help ease some of the undoubted pressure on United’s balance sheet. Despite the upbeat preface to their most recent set of accounts, the loss of Premier League status and money-making opportunities it brings is not a good thing. And it will have an effect, a detrimental one, upon United’s spending power during this transfer window and the next.

Yes, Ramsdale is a fine goalkeeper. At only 23 years of age, he is destined to become an even better one too. Still a decade or so shy of his peak, if his career path continues on the same trajectory you suspect a senior England cap isn’t too far away. If that arrives over the course of the next nine months, then United will almost certainly be obliged to renegotiate his contract.

But is Ramsdale indispensable? If United are to be viewed as genuine challengers for a top two finish then the answer is surely ‘no’. It simply has to be. No one is pretending that losing him wouldn’t weaken Jokanovic’s hand. But no team that wants to achieve something can be so reliant upon one player that their absence renders the rest of the operation useless.

Even if Ramsdale stays, promotion isn’t guaranteed. If United fail to go up, they will find themselves fighting exactly the same battle in 12 months time. Arsenal might well come calling again. If they don’t, and Arteta has already filled the vacancy with another candidate, another one of the game’s powerhouse clubs will.

If United do make an immediate return to the highest level, the chances are the can has only been kicked a little further down the road. Like it or not, there are levels in football. Unless they can become one of the richest teams in the country, their best talent is always going to get picked off. They do the same to others. It’s why Enda Stevens, George Baldock and even Ramsdale himself came to South Yorkshire in the first place: They viewed playing for United as being an upgrade on representing their previous clubs.

United’s decision to focus on the loan market this summer suggests Jokanovic is working to a pretty tight budget. If selling Ramsdale provides him with the chance to acquire, say, Tom Cairney from Fulham, it might be a sacrifice worth making.

THE CONS: Unless Ramsdale asks to leave, United must resist the temptation to sell. Even if Arsenal decide to meet their valuation of a player they calculate is now worth more than double the £18m they paid to sign him 12 months ago.

Allowing one of the finest young talents in the country to depart would send out the wrong type of message. To both a support base which has been reinvigorated by Jokanovic’s appointment and also those players he would leave behind. Some of them are also attracting admiring glances from other clubs. Watching Ramsdale pack his bags and head down to north London would hardly convince them that this is a club serious - deadly serious - about not only returning to the PL but also establishing itself there. Losing Ramsdale could trigger a damaging chain reaction.

Yes, selling him to Arsenal would inject a considerable sum of money into United’s coffers. That could be used to not only strengthen other areas of their squad but also pay for improvements to the training facilities which, according to midfielder Oliver Norwood, are a source of frustration within the dressing room.

But even if it was spent wisely, it would be a false economy. Even though Ramsdale’s deputy Wes Foderingham is more than capable, Jokanovic wouldn’t want to enter the new campaign with just the former Rangers man and Jake Eastwood at his disposal. So a replacement would have to be signed. Possibly another if United do go up. And by then, with the damage the Covid-19 pandemic has inflicted upon football’s finances likely to have been repaired, acquiring some of comparable ability will cost a whole lot more than any profit United stand to make.

Of course, United have got to focus on the short term. This season is all about trying to go up. But they also have to think about what might happen if they do that. The whole point of the exercise, surely, is to not only return to the PL but stay there. In order to do that, they must retain the services of people like Ramsdale who will only get better as he acquires more experience.

Arsenal could sweeten the package they are proposing by offering United the chance to borrow some of their best young talents. But again, even if Arteta’s side offer to cover all of their wages (unlikely), they will be getting the mucky end of the stick. Again, considering the bigger picture, Arsenal would derive greater benefit.

Money ultimately decides most things in professional sport. But with Ramsdale’s former club AFC Bournemouth entitled to a sizeable percentage of any fee United might receive, anything they do make won’t be worth it in the long run.

If Ramsdale backs them into a corner, okay, that changes the landscape. But there comes a point when, if United are serious about achieving something, when they will have to stand firm in the face of pressure from bigger and more minted clubs.