With their opening day clash against Preston North End taking place on Friday, Sheffield United have reportedly reached an agreement with a Premier League gem ahead of their season curtain raiser.
Sheffield United transfer news
It's been a summer full of arrivals for the Blades, who are looking to make an instant return to the Premier League this season. Those at Bramall Lane have welcomed as many as seven fresh faces with the standouts being Kieffer Moore and Callum O'Hare. Meanwhile, the arrival of Alfie Gilchrist is also impressive business, given how he was showing glimpses of his quality at Chelsea last season.
Speaking to the club website after putting pen to paper, Gilchrist said: "I am really looking forward to it. It is a great opportunity which the club and the manager have given to me. I am just looking forward to getting started. It has always been the plan to showcase what I can do in the Premier League with the chances I've had, so now I want to try and do that week in, week out, here.
"This is a new challenge. I am taking myself out of my comfort zone. I've been there (at Chelsea) a while now, so I am ready to kick on. I came here last season for an away day, and seeing the fans and how they get behind the team, how much they love it, I was impressed."
It seems as though he won't be the last Premier League loanee, either. According to Football Insider, Sheffield United have reached an agreement with Jesurun Rak-Sakyi over a season-long loan deal and are now negotiating with Crystal Palace. On that front, as per Dom Smith of The Standard, the Blades will pay more than £1m in loan fees and Rak-Sakyi's wages in full to complete their deal ahead of Leeds United.
"Remarkable" Rak-Sakyi is Championship-ready
Just 21 years old, Rak-Sakyi has shown glimpses of his quality in the Premier League, but has seen his game time limited at Crystal Palace. Meanwhile, during the 2022/23 campaign, the winger enjoyed an excellent loan spell at Charlton Athletic, scoring 15 goals and recording a further eight assists in League One. So, that said, the natural middle ground at this stage of his development should be the Championship and Sheffield United.
The youngster has earned plenty of praise during his time at Palace, including from former manager Roy Hodgson, who told the club's official website when Rak-Sakyi broke into his squad: "He's dealt with it [stepping up] very well. For such a young man he's shown a remarkable maturity and a remarkable sangfroid.
“Coming into a group of senior players that he’s probably only watched from the terraces before, you wouldn’t notice that with his performances in the training sessions where he’s really taken the responsibility that he’s capable of taking.
"Everyone’s taken to him and been appreciative of him and what he can do so it’s nice we’ve been able to have him with us in a situation where a vacancy has occurred because we’ve had enough senior players out of our squad to not be able to fill our 20-man quota."
