Sheffield United will have to pay £10million if they are to sign centre back Ben Davies from Preston North End this summer, The Sun journalist Alan Nixon has claimed.

The Blades are in the market for a centre back this summer, as they look to find a replacement for Jack O'Conell, who is facing a long spell on the sidelines through injury.

Now it seems as though Chris Wilder's side have identified a possible candidate to fill that role, with Nixon's latest update revealing that the Premier League club are taking an interest in Davies.

However, it is thought that Preston have told Sheffield United - who also signed now-West Brom man Callum Robinson from the Lancashire club last summer - that it will cost them £10million to prise Davies away from Deepdale.

That is said to be the same sort of price that North End's Championship rivals Bournemouth were quoted when they enquired about the 25-year-old earlier this summer.

As things stand, there are just under 12 months remaining on Davies' current contract with Preston, meaning he could leave the club for free at the end of this season if nothing changes between now and then.

The defender has featured in all three league games for Preston this season, with Alex Neil's side picking up just a single point from those outings ahead of their trip to Brentford on Sunday afternoon.

The Verdict

This is an interesting one.

Davies is an key player for Preston in their defence, and you can understand why they are demanding such a significant fee for him.

That is something that could make this a difficult deal for Sheffield United to get done, considering they are unlikely to have a huge amount of their transfer budget remaining, having just broken their transfer record to sign Rhian Brewster from Liverpool.

However, Preston too may have to be careful here, since it would be a big blow for them if they were to lose an asset such as Davies for nothing - making it harder to replace him as well - for nothing when his contract expires in a few months time.