Sheffield United: Gutting blow could clear space for new Leicester City arrival | OneFootball

Harry Souttar's injury blow could help Sheffield United land the signing of Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury

Sheffield United have enjoyed a largely successful Championship campaign so far, although a three-game winless run during the festive period has witnessed the Blades drop out of the automatic promotion positions and into third.

Chris Wilder's men had been on an impressive 11-game unbeaten run, which included nine victories, but suffered a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of title-race rivals Burnley on Boxing Day.

The Blades were then held to a draw at Bramall Lane on 29th December by West Bromwich Albion and suffered yet another defeat to a fellow automatic promotion hopeful on New Year's Day, when they lost 2-1 at Sunderland.

Wilder and co will hope that Saturday's win at Watford will get them back on track, while it is also worth noting that the South Yorkshire outfit would be the current league leaders if they had not faced a two-point deduction ahead of the start of the season.

Meanwhile, the biggest blow the Blades have faced in recent weeks, rather than their downturn in form, has perhaps been the injury blow suffered by on-loan centre-half Harry Souttar.

As reported by the Sheffield Star, the Australia international suffered an Achilles injury on Boxing Day, which ended his campaign, and prompted a premature return to parent club Leicester City.

Souttar blow could help Blades complete Hamza Choudhury swoop

Currently, the Blades faithful will feel as though Souttar's campaign-ending injury is a major dent to their club's automatic promotion hopes, as he has proven himself as one of the best centre-backs in the Championship this term, and will be thoroughly difficult to replace.

However, the South Yorkshire outfit have not only witnessed injuries to their backline, but also to the midfield area, after talented youngster Ollie Arblaster ruptured his ACL during his club's Steel City Derby win over Sheffield Wednesday back in November, and is therefore out for the season.

Meanwhile, Vini Souza suffered a hamstring issue during a 1-0 triumph over Millwall on 11th December and has not featured since the aforementioned Boxing Day defeat to Burnley.

Amid the injuries suffered by Arblaster and Souza, the Blades have been reliant upon understudies Sydie Peck and Tom Davies but will feel as though they are in need of reinforcements during the January transfer window.

As such, Wilder and co have placed Souttar's Leicester teammate, Hamza Choudhury, on their list of transfer targets, as recently revealed by the Sheffield Star.

While Souttar's injury blow is far from ideal for the Bramall Lane outfit, it will have freed up some of their wage budget, making a mid-season swoop for Choudhury more plausible.

According to Capology estimates, the defender's weekly wage, which has been shared between the Blades and the Foxes, is £40,000 per week whle Choudhury's weekly wage at the King Power Stadium comes to £50,000 per week.

It is unclear how much of Souttar's wages Sheffield United were covering and what chunk of Choudhury's they would need to take on but the end of the centre-back's loan deal certainly looks set to have cleared some space on the wage bill for the midfielder to join.

Choudhury could be a strong signing for the Blades

As previously alluded to, Wilder needs to strengthen his midfield ranks this month, due to the setbacks faced by Souza, and in particular Arblaster.

The services of the Foxes man could prove to be a solid answer to such problems, as he boasts a wealth of experience at both Premier League and Championship level.

Last season, the Bangladesh international made 34 league appearances and helped the Foxes on their way to lifting the second-tier title under the stewardship of former boss Enzo Maresca.

The Blades will hope that they can secure his signature and that the 27-year-old can emulate the sort of success he enjoyed with Leicester last season by aiding their promotion push.