Sheffield United are preparing for a transfer saga that lasts until the end of the summer window for Sander Berge, with Arsenal unwilling to pay the £35 million asking price right now for the 23-year-old according to the Sheffield Star.

It's believed that the Gunners think the price will be lowered by the Blades the closer the deadline comes - which will frustrate the United hierarchy as they'd like to conclude a sale as quickly as possible.

United are resigned to losing Berge eventually but Slavisa Jokanovic - who starts his new job at the club on Thursday - is now 'planning for life' with the powerful midfielder to start the 2021-22 Championship campaign.

Berge was a £22 million capture in January 2020 from Genk in Belgium and the Blades are looking to make a profit on him amid interest from much bigger outfits.

But they may end up having to settle for something a lot closer to the fee they ended up paying for the Norway international 18 months ago - regardless of how long it takes the club expect Berge to not be playing in the red and white stripes of United when September comes along.

The Verdict

Berge is definitely a unique midfielder and has special qualities, but has he shown enough for United to be valued at £35 million? I'm not so sure.

He definitely has the ability to improve a lot more and being surrounded by better players will probably get the best out of him, but with Arsenal set to spend a hefty sum of money on Ben White, are they really going to stump it up for Berge as well?

United are probably going to have to be prepared to play the waiting game when it comes to selling Berge - it smells of a deadline day transfer saga that gets pushed to the very wire in my eyes.