Sheffield United facing wait for much-needed financial windfall as striker starts to fulfil undoubted potential
Sheffield United could be in line for a significant sell-on fee if Will Osula is sold this summer, but Newcastle United’s current stance suggests any windfall may have to wait.
Sheffield United’s hopes of a further financial windfall from the sale of Will Osula may have to wait a while after Eddie Howe, the Newcastle United manager, confirmed his stance on the young striker’s future. Osula moved to St. James’ Park two summers ago.
The deal United negotiated, for an initial £10m, also contained a number of bonuses and clauses including a hefty sell-on should Newcastle move on Osula in the future. That came close to happening previously, when Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt came close to a near-£30m deal that would have netted the Blades a hefty sell-on chunk.
But Osula remained on Tyneside and has since justified that decision by jumping ahead of £124million summer signings Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa in the pecking order, scoring three goals in his last four games.
Reports in the north east have now suggested that Osula’s value is closer to £40m after his recent goal spree, with one school of thought that they may look to cash in on him this summer to raise the funds needed to strengthen elsewhere.
That would probably be the preferred option of United, too, who are facing a tightening of the belt this summer in terms of finances when their parachute payments dry up. But those hopes appear slim for the moment, with Howe confirming he wants to keep Osula at the club.
“I'd definitely like to keep him,” Howe said recently. “I think Will's a player of really rich promise, and he was when we signed him. We signed him with the view of developing him to try and build him to become a Premier League player, because that certainly wasn't the player that we recruited.
“There was a lot of work and time that's gone into his development. Graeme Jones, Jason Tindall have done an incredible job helping his development, analysing his game, feeding back to him, and Will's done really well to stay stable, level, and commit to that development and see the longer-term plan.
“It’s great to see, then, when he comes into the team and gets an opportunity that he grabs it. He's very hungry, he's very motivated, he believes in himself. I think he's maturing nicely. There are a lot of other players waiting for an opportunity, so he knows he has to perform.”
United have previously been accused on several occasions of under-selling their academy stars and Osula’s rise to prominence this season will no doubt raise some eyebrows amongst Blades supporters after an underwhelming season at Bramall Lane.
But hindsight is always 20/20 and the sale of Osula helped United avoid a financial loss last season as they came down from the Premier League and looked to build a squad capable of getting back up at the first attempt.
They certainly didn’t miss him last term as they came within 15 minutes of winning the play-off final at Wembley against Sunderland, while his sale helped keep other key names at Bramall Lane - with United sensibly covering themselves with the future clauses in the deal.