Sheffield United's move for Newcastle United centre-back Ciaran Clark hinged on whether the Irishman was available on a loan deal or not this summer, according to a report from The Star.

The 32-year-old is believed to be closing in on a season-long loan move to Bramall Lane after being left out of Eddie Howe's first-team plans for the 2022/23 campaign, perhaps no real surprise considering the arrival of Sven Botman at St James' Park in the latter stages of last month.

In fact, he has been training away from the senior squad along with Dwight Gayle and Jeff Hendrick, with both attracting interest but not yet securing a move with Clark looking as though he will be the first of the trio out of the door.

 

 

The Blades have already moved to recruit a centre-back this summer with Anel Ahmedhodzic arriving from Malmo - but with Jack O'Connell still out and the likes of Charlie Goode and Filip Uremovic leaving in the summer - they are in need of adding multiple players in this position and look to have secured another signing in Clark.

As per The Star, they wouldn't have pursued a move for him if the Magpies had ruled out a loan switch, with the Blades keen to bring the Irishman in temporarily as opposed to signing him on a longer-term basis.

This same report states that Ahmedhodzic is expected to be their only "significant cash purchase" this summer, ruling out big-money moves for other potential additions.

The Verdict:

If they aren't going to sell Sander Berge, then not spending big on other transfers would make sense because the Norwegian isn't likely to be on a modest salary at Bramall Lane after arriving for a sizeable fee back in 2020.

He may be a good asset to have and could potentially be a fine replacement for Morgan Gibbs-White in an advanced midfield role - but they should be looking to sell him on this summer to give themselves a decent chance of receiving a reasonable fee for his services.

This fee could enable Paul Heckingbottom to continue putting his stamp on his first-team squad ahead of the new campaign, with a couple of extra additions potentially making all the difference in the promotion race.

They have experienced success in the loan market with Gibbs-White though and have seen Nottingham Forest benefit from several temporary players last season, so you can't blame them for wanting to exploit this market again instead of forking out a lot of money on longer-term deals.

Clark is unlikely to be a long-term addition anyway, so they should probably only look to recruit players on permanent deals if they are under 30, with a bigger chance of selling them on for a decent amount of money in the future.