Sheffield United face stiff competition for Jesse Lingard in January.
The transfer window opens tomorrow and Lingard has been strongly linked with a loan move to Bramall Lane.
Talks have taken place between Blades boss Chris Wilder and Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer about the deal.
The South Yorkshire club are even prepared to pay Lingard’s £100,000-a-week wages to land him.
The 28-year-old signing a one-year extension to his Old Trafford contract is unlikely to affect things. According to The Sun, Man United triggering the clause to keep Lingard until 2022 is purely to safeguard his value.
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They do not want to risk losing the England international for free in the summer. As of this month, foreign sides would have been able to seal a pre-contract agreement with Lingard once he had entered the final six months of his deal.
Sky Sports reports Real Sociedad had held talks about this. With this extension, that can no longer happen.
Competition for Jesse Lingard
There is certainly plenty of interest in Lingard, both from elsewhere in the Premier League and abroad.
It was previously reported Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion were keeping tabs. Then Brighton and Hove Albion and Newcastle United apparently joined the queue.
Now Everton and West Ham United have also been linked.
A reunion with Jose Mourinho at Tottenham Hotspur also remains a possibility.
On the continent, Sociedad are likely to still be interested. Meanwhile, a number of Serie A sides have a watchful eye too.
Finally, Scottish duo Celtic and Rangers are also in the mix.
If the Blades are to sign Lingard, then they are going to have to compete with a number of other big hitters.
It’s said they are the “most keen” to land the midfielder. Which is perhaps unsurprising, considering how badly they currently lack creativity in their squad.
