Sheffield United take major step to beat Leeds United to Coventry City favourite | OneFootball

The Blades look like they are going to add a very solid piece to Chris Wilder's side.

Highlights

Callum O’Hare is set to join Sheffield United on a four-year deal, after leaving Coventry City as a free agent.

The attacking midfielder has been reported by Tom Collomosse to be on the verge of signing a deal with the Blades and is said to have been undertaking a medical today.

O'Hare was offered a new deal by the Sky Blues but turned down the opportunity to stay on at the CBS Arena. The former Aston Villa academy graduate was expected to seek a move to the Premier League, but it now looks like he'll be staying in the division but switching teams.

Teams like West Ham United and Leeds United were reported to be interested in the 26-year-old, who registered nine combined goals and assists in 31 league appearances last season.

He missed a large chunk of the 2022/23 and 2023/24 campaigns due to a serious knee injury that he suffered against his expected new team on Boxing Day 2022. That muscular trauma kept him out of action for 10 months.

O'Hare's return sparked Coventry back into life, and was the catalyst for the rest of their season, which saw them reach the FA Cup semi-final and miss out on the play-offs by nine points.

The attacking midfielder scored in that domestic cup match against Manchester United, at Wembley, en route to their historic comeback. Unfortunately for him he couldn't help his team to capitalise on their momentum, and he missed a penalty in the shootout, helping the Red Devils to narrowly escape embarrassment.

Sheffield United's transfer window problems

An American-based consortium is looking to buy the Blades this summer, and the hope, from the buyers' side, is that a deal can be done fast enough that their new money can play some part in the current transfer window, as per Alan Nixon.

The prospective new owners, who the Star have reported to be ex-pats who are co-founders of a Californian capital investment fund, have already had some influence on United's summer dealings.

The takeover situation has caused delays on players being signed, but they have also had a say in the deals that have already been done/not done. They influenced the club's decision to release Ben Osborn, and the whole process put contract talks with Oli McBurnie, who is now a free agent, on hold.

Their seeming influence on the Blades' dealings is said to have caused some concern among other EFL clubs, who, according to The Sun, have accused them of breaking transfer rules which don't allow prospective owners to complete business before a takeover has been completed.

United have made two signings this summer - Jamie Shackleton and Sam McCallum - both of whom have joined as free agents. These types of deals are expected to make up most of the club's transfer activity for this summer, as things stand.

Callum O'Hare would be a fantastic player for Sheffield United

There's a good reason why the 26-year-old was holding out on signing a new deal in case there was interest from the Premier League: because he's that good.

His form did tail off towards the end of the campaign, but, in fairness, so did most of his teammates' too; that FA Cup run sucked the life out of them all, seemingly.

When he returned from injury, that was peak O'Hare. Scoring when he wasn't supposed to, often in big moments, and creating for others. Having that sort of spark plug player that can make something happen from out of nowhere can be so valuable, and so needed if you're thinking of chasing promotion.