Sheffield United are reportedly planning to offer Town £3 million for central defender Luke Woolfenden.

News of the Blades’ interest in the 21-year-old emerged over the weekend and, according to The Sun, manager Chris Wilder is “ready to pay” £3 million for Woolfenden his scouts having given him rave reviews.

Wilder is also said to be targeting a £7 million move for Anderlecht's Belgium international centre-half Elias Cobbaut.

Academy product Woolfenden is contracted to the Blues until the summer of 2022 with the club having an option for a further season.

Asked about interest in Woolfenden and midfielder Flynn Downes on BBC Radio Suffolk's Life’s a Pitch on Saturday, general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill said Town are keen to hold on to their young players but didn’t entirely rule out their departures.

“Those players that you’ve mentioned, I’m sure they are on other clubs’ radars and lists,” he said.

“The football club doesn’t want to be in a situation to sell our young players, they’re here for us to try and help our club to go forward.

“As [owner] Marcus [Evans] has said and [manager] Paul [Lambert] has come out and said on a number of occasions, if there’s an economic business situation we cannot turn down then we’d have to look at it separately.

“But the plan is we want those young players to be here, along with the senior players to drive the club forward.”

He added that no firm offers had been received: “We’ve had no bids for our players. We’ve had enquiries about whether would we sell, similar to you asking the questions now. They know the good players.

“We’ll have scouts at this game today, we’ll have scouts at every game we play. If they’re playing well, they’re on other clubs’ lists.

“They’re also international players that play for their countries, so they’re on other people’s radars from that side of things.”

Photo: TWTD

Smithy added 10:12 - Jan 14 £3m jog on
16

BluePayne added 10:12 - Jan 14 £3million in this market, having a laugh wilder.
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BangaloreBlues added 10:12 - Jan 14 Evans will take the £3 million
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itfcjoe added 10:12 - Jan 14 Going to be incredibly difficult to keep hold of him as a 3rd tier club if Sheff U do firm up their interest - hopefully they don't!
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LondonTractor added 10:13 - Jan 14 Of course we don't want to lose Wolfenden or Downes. They are our 'own' two best players by a mile. However, if they price is right, then we have to sell and we wouldn't want to stand in the way of their careers. But ME please stop being an easy touch with the transfer fees, you need to put a £10m tag on each of their heads right now. The sad thing is that we are selling our best players to Sheffield Utd, I have no problem with them as a club and in fact admire their achievements, but it shows how far we have fallen : (

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Simonds92 added 10:15 - Jan 14 Based on the current market with the sales of Clarke, Webster, Mings £3m is nowhere near enough imo. No doubt we will take the short sighted decision to sell.
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trncbluearmy added 10:18 - Jan 14 We sell,the money goes towards the running costs of the club, we replace with loans and freebies and the decline continues Yeap thank god for evans
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martin587 added 10:18 - Jan 14 At the moment I appreciate this is just paper talk.But surely a top 21 year old defender that has not even reached his true potential is worth a lot more than the reported 3 million offered by Sheffield Utd.I doubt very much he will jump straight into the first team but will just keep the sub bench warm.He would be best to stay here until at least to the end of this season just to see whether we get promotion then just then his options will be far better. It would be a terrible same to see him sold now.

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BaddowBlue1 added 10:20 - Jan 14 While the Sheffield United interest if good news on the progress Luke has made, I honestly hope that he heeds the experiences of another Luke (Garbutt) who made a big money move when young and has struggled carve a career out in the game. Yes the big wages are nice but it also hampers your ability to get back on the footballing ladder. What will be will be but if we are serious about building a home grown team to challenge in the Championship at some stage, selling Luke does not tick the boxes. However I do remember the club selling Kieran Dyer, but the transfer money was reinvested by the club with some astute signings McGreal and Marcus Stewart which got us promoted that year so we do have a flip side but I would doubt whether we could recruit the players with the quality we would need with £3m no doubt paid in instalments .

12

Essexnblue added 10:20 - Jan 14 If we have any ambition we should block any bid until the end of the season. If we fail to get promoted then it becomes a different story as the player will probably want to leave. 3 million is a snip but only 7 players have been sold for over 5 million in the history of league 1 including Delph and Alli. So you can see why 3 mill is a starting point, this is another factor of dropping down a division as the bidding would start at 8 million in the championship.

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ChateauWines added 10:27 - Jan 14 I'm certain that Luke is a far better and more natural defender than Webster, Clarke and even Mings. He will be sold on for far more than that in near future. Hold on to him whilst we get promoted at watch a transfer record smashed next season if indeed we choose to sell . This young crop of players will do well in Championship next season
11

SamWhiteUK added 10:31 - Jan 14 Not enough, piss off
5

itfcbam added 10:33 - Jan 14 Would love us to get more but what we dont know is how much the club is projected to lose this season? Maddison, who is arguably 1 of the best players in the league is going for 2.5 mill, baring in mind offensive players go for more money normally. Also the player will be looking at probably a x4 wage increase so could easily have his head turned. Would love to see him stay as he was one of the players I was looking forward to seeing this season but an offer around that mark maybe hard to turn away....hope I am wrong

0

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 10:35 - Jan 14 Surely it would be a very poor financial decision (not to mention a sporting one) to let him go for peanuts when his potential price is so much more. But past experiences don't fill me with much confidence. PL clubs get masses of TV and advertising money. It's about time some of the former was more fairly distributed among the 60 clubs of 90 in the top four divisions (BBC News, 14 January) currently in debt.

4

Dolphinblue added 10:39 - Jan 14 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂🤣....no words....🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
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VanDusen added 10:39 - Jan 14 @baddowblue Agree. Though probably the most significant signing was we replaced Dyer with Jermaine Wright who imho was an unsung hero and gave a bit of defensive stability behind Magilton in midfield which ultimately made the difference. Stewart was a shrewd signing up front to get us over the line the following spring - that's probably what we need this season too...

4

Pilgrimblue added 10:45 - Jan 14 Agree end of season review. If we go up then he'll be worth much more but if we fail then it'll be very difficult to hold on to him. As for Luke he needs to take stock and realise that more offers will come so no need to take first club, esp Shef U who maybe a risky move in any event with the prospect of a one season bounce.
3

casanovacrow added 10:45 - Jan 14 Didn't he offer a derisory sum for Waghorn too? I wouldn't even reply. Stupid idea selling him or Downes whilst in this division anyway.
4

beornioblue added 10:48 - Jan 14 3Mill is Peanuts for a young player with such promise!!! Amazing how managers scruples change, from Wilder being the working mans manager to being in a position of power with regards league position he would happily screw over another club with a pathetic offer!! For once Town if you don't want to sell him then stick a 45mill price tag on him, that's our prerogative!! There would be absolutely no point selling him before the end of this season same applies to Downes. If we go up then happy days days if we don't then we will have to sell and we would deserve it. Keep them for this season, get promoted then start dictating terms for once , stop being such a pu$$y club when it comes to our best assets. PS Good feeling about a win tonight coyb!!!!!!!!!

5

smellmycheese added 10:54 - Jan 14 25 million is the correct price
2

Bluearmy_81 added 10:58 - Jan 14 Joke club, taking you all for mugs...
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Suffolkboy added 11:00 - Jan 14 Not the news any one has been waiting for,but frankly not totally unexpected ! At the top of our now much better structured Management team , however, it appears evident that lots of thought has been going on, and will go on .The pressures ,financial or otherwise ,will have been anticipated : and I shall hope that a sensible plan has been thought through so all eventualities are covered ! The evidence is that ME is really becoming closely involved ,and that points to forward thinking ,not knee jerk reaction ! Can't imagine ,unless it's mega bucks , we'd need to get into such a sale before the end of the season . COYB ,belief anf faith !!

2

Lightningboy added 11:00 - Jan 14 Cheeky b@st@rds. Give us £10m & Billy Sharp and we'll consider it.
4

dirtydingusmagee added 11:01 - Jan 14 watch history repeat its self at ITFC .
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Blueballs83 added 11:02 - Jan 14 If Woolfenden continues to play well and improve his value will only go up. If we get promoted this year, we will be in far better position to keep him or sell at an even higher price. Unless we are so desperate for money now, It does not make sense to sell now
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