Exclusive:Sheffield United consider transfer swoop for Ipswich Town former loan man as January priority outlined
Sheffield United consider transfer swoop for former loan man as January priority outlined
Former loan man Harry Clarke is a potential target for Sheffield United in the January transfer window, The Star understands, as the Blades look to strengthen one of their priority positions in the new year sales. Rookie Femi Seriki is currently United’s only specialist right-back option.
Winger Chieo Ogbene filled in there earlier in the season in a hybrid right-sided role but United have since settled on a more orthodox back four, with Seriki’s name one of the first on the teamsheet at the minute.
But cover and competition in that area has been identified as one of United’s priorities when the window opens for business on January 1. Chris Wilder and his recruitment staff have drawn up a detailed list of targets, with Clarke understood to be a possibility.
The former Arsenal man spent time on loan with United last season from Ipswich Town but saw his season prematurely ended by injury. He is yet to play a competitive game this season for the Tractor Boys and is expected to be made available for loan in January.
But United would have a detailed look at Clarke’s fitness if they launched another move, with availability a big factor in the business United do in the window. Clarke, 24, played six times for United last season but his lack of game-time this term is not understood to have been injury-related.
Sheffield United consider transfer swoop for former loan man as January priority outlined
Leicester City’s Hamza Choudhury, who eventually ended the season as United’s first-choice right-back, is likely to come under consideration again, especially given his versatility in being able to play in midfield as well.
Speaking earlier in the season, after leaving Seriki out of the Blades squad altogether for a period before he was reintroduced, boss Wilder said of the 22-year-old: “I'm not daft. I pick players on form, I pick players that are doing the business.
“He's had an opportunity. He should have had an opportunity earlier, but he hadn't done enough. I think we are working our way through it as well, in terms of what works and what doesn't.
“We haven't got a natural right back at the football club, apart from Femi, who's a young lad in his second season [at senior level]. Femi isn’t going to take you to the top of the division.
“Femi isn’t going to pay 46 games for you in the Championship. But when he contributes like he has done, he's a dangerous player. Like he was last year. So he can take the confidence from that.”
United are also in the market for central defensive reinforcements, after beginning the process of terminating Ben Godfrey’s disastrous loan move from Atalanta at the halfway stage, while a winger to replace Louie Barry is also on the radar.
United are admirers of Clarke’s Portman Road teammate Jack Clarke, as we revealed yesterday, but also have an extensive list of alternative targets ahead of a key January window.